Glee cast members

Glee cast members, Fox has up’d several Glee stars to series regulars for season 5, meaning the following kids will be the stars of the new episodes when the show returns Thursday, September 19.

Glee season 5′s new series regulars are Melissa Benoist (Marley), Jacob Artist (Jake), Becca Tobin (Kitty), Blake Jenner (Ryder), and Alex Newell (Wade/“Unique”).

The news comes on the heels of Fox shockingly removing several Glee season 4 cast members on Friday: Amber Riley (Mercedes), Heather Morris (Brittany), Mark Salling (Puck), Dianna Agron (Quinn), and Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) will not return for the fifth outing of the dra-medy.

Popular Glee cast members Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chord Overstreet, Chris Colfer, and Darren Criss are returning. Just yesterday Michele shared a photo from the season 5 photo shoot depicting the gang back together. Criss was absent for it due to his nationwide tour.

Glee is set for a fifth and sixth season over the next two years. It’s unclear at this time how the old favorites will continue to be a part of the show when some have to graduate. Yesterday’s departure of several cast members signaled good news and bad. The good news was that the bloated cast was getting a bit more organized. The bad news is that the people who left were long-time favorites.

Presumably Fox will sign on a few new actors to shake up the season with new characters.