Fox's "Glee" is saying goodbye to several fan favorites.
Original cast members Dianna Agron, Heather Morris, Mark Salling, Amber Riley and Harry Shum, Jr. won't be returning as next season, though they may make guest appearances, individuals close to the production confirmed to TheWrap.
A representative for show producers, 20th Century Fox Television, declined to comment. Riley's rep confirmed her departure, but declined to comment.
Shum made the following statement to TheWrap:
"Working on 'Glee' with Ryan Murphy and the cast has been one of the best experiences I've had. I am extremely thankful for my time on the show and I'm very excited about my future projects and new opportunities."
All five actors started with the musical series back in 2009. On the last season, "Glee" saw some big changes as new students joined and several characters moved on to their lives after McKinley High. The series was partially set in New York City to accomodate new storylines for stars Lea Michele and Chris Colfer.
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Quinn (Agron), Puck (Salling), Mercedes (Riley) and Mike (Shum) graduated on Season 3. Heather (Morris) graduated this past season and the undercover brainiac accepted an offer to attend M.I.T. in Cambridge, Mass.
In April, Fox granted an early renewal to the Ryan Murphy production for an additional two seasons.
While the series still performs well on the network and reached cult status among viewers very quickly, its viewership has flagged some over its run. At its height during Season 2, "Glee" averaged 10.11 million viewers per episode versus Season 4's 8.26 million.
TVLine was the first to report the cast changes.
Note: This article was updated to reflect that Agron was not a series regular on Season 4.