Season Four

Season Four of Glee premiered on September 13, 2012 and concluded on May 9, 2013. Glee aired on Thursdays at 9PM EST instead of Tuesdays at 8PM EST. This season followed the lives of both New Directions and the lives of the alumni who recently graduated, in Season Three.

The series focuses on a high school Glee Club called New Directions, from William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. This season, however, introduced several new characters, such as Ezra Fitz, Jake Puckerman, Marley Rose, Jade West, and winner and runner up of The Glee Project, Blake Jenner (Ryder Lynn) and Ali Stroker (Betty Pillsbury) respectively, it also counts with the return of Alex Newell (Wade "Unique" Adams). Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans),Lucy Hale (Aria Montgomery) and Avan Jogia (Beck Oliver) were also promoted to the main cast after beig recurring charcters previously. Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray) and Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury) both reduced their roles to recurring after being main cast for three seasons. New characters were introduced as the plot focuses on the new generation of the New Directions due to the loss of several members after graduation. The plot also focuses on Rachel's college experience in New York as well as what the rest of the alumni are doing after graduation.

Main Cast

 * Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson (22/22)
 * Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams (22/22)
 * Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans (22/22)
 * Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang (22/22)
 * Avan Jogia as Beck Oliver (22/22)
 * Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery (22/22)
 * Lea Michele as Rachel Berry (19/22)
 * Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel (19/22)
 * Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce (19/22)
 * Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester (17/22)
 * Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester (16/22)
 * Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson (15/22)
 * Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez (13/22)
 * Mark Salling as Noah Puckerman (8/22)
 * Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones (8/22)
 * Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang (8/22)

Special Guest Stars

 * Kate Hudson as Cassandra July (5/22)
 * Sarah Jessica Parker as Isabelle Wright (3/22)
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Carmen Tibideaux (2/22)
 * Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran (1/22)
 * Katey Sagal as Nancy Abrams (1/22)

Guest Stars

 * Jacob Artist as Jake Puckerman (22/22)
 * Melissa Benoist as Marley Rose (22/22)
 * Victoria Justice as Tori Vega (22/22)
 * Alex Newell as Wade "Unique" Adams (18/22)
 * Blake Jenner as Ryder Lynn (18/22)
 * Elizabeth Gilles as Jade West (17/22)
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz (17/22)
 * Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson (11/22)
 * Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury (10/22)
 * Trisha Rae Stahl as Millie Rose (7/22)
 * Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins (7/22)
 * Dot-Marie Jones as Shannon Beiste (6/22)
 * Nolan Gerard Funk as Hunter Clarington (4/22)
 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel (3/22)
 * Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray (3/22)
 * Oliver Kieran-Jones as Adam Crawford (3/22)
 * Cody Allen Christian as Mike Montgomery (4/22)
 * Ginny Gardner as Katie / Marissa (2/22)
 * Jessica Sanchez as Frida Romero (2/22)
 * Grant Gustin as Sebastian Smythe (2/22)
 * Josh Sussman as Jacob Ben Israel (2/22)
 * Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Schuester (1/22)
 * Gina Hecht as Mrs. Puckerman (1/22)
 * Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan (1/22)
 * Aisha Tyler as Tanisha Puckerman (1/22)
 * Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes (1/22)
 * Bill A. Jones as Rod Remington (1/22)
 * Earlene Davis as Andrea Carmichael (1/22)
 * Ali Stroker as Betty Pillsbury (1/22)

Co-Stars

 * Brad Ellis as Brad (7/22)
 * Ryan Heinke as Stoner Brett (6/22)
 * Pamela Chan as Dottie Kazatori (5/22)
 * Daniel Curtis Lee as Phil Lipoff (4/22)
 * Jesse Luken as Bobby Surette (4/22)
 * Riker Lynch as Jeff (3/22)
 * Curt Mega as Nick (3/22)
 * Dominic Barnes as Trent (2/22)
 * Neil Parker as Wes Fahey (2/22)
 * Michael Hitchcock as Dalton Rumba (1/22)

Major events

 * The introduction of the next generation of New Directions: Wade "Unique" Adams, Marley Rose, Jade West, Jake Puckerman and Ryder Lynn.
 * The introduction of the new english teacher Ezra Fitz.
 * The student/teacher realtionship between Ezra and Aria.
 * The break up/dramas of several couples: Finchel, Klaine, Brittana and Wemma.
 * The love triangles of Marley/Ryder/Jake and Sam/Brittany/Santana.
 * Marley struggling with self-image issues.
 * Will leaving and putting Finn in charge of the glee club.
 * New Directions loss at Sectionals and re-entering the competition after Warblers' disqualification.
 * The unaccomplished, and now accomplished Wemma wedding.
 * Kurt and Rachel's future in New York and NYADA.
 * Santana's move to New York and settling in with Kurt and Rachel, as well figuring out what to do with her life.
 * Ryder's catfish storyline, and finding out Unique is the catfish.
 * Rachel's rivalry with her dance teacher, Cassandra.
 * Rachel's pregnancy scare and her break-up with Brody after finding out about his secret.
 * Blaine dealing with his crush on Sam and Tina dealing with her crush on Blaine.
 * A gunshot going off at McKinley which sends everyone into panic.
 * Sue being fired from McKinley after telling Figgins the gun was hers.
 * Rachel's "Funny Girl" audition and callbacks.
 * Kurt working at Vogue.com and meeting/befriending, Isabelle Wright.
 * Burt discovering he has cancer, and the news of having been cured.
 * Finn deciding what to do with his life.
 * Blaine planning to propose to Kurt.
 * Brittany receiving a near perfect SAT score and subsequently graduating early and getting an early admission invitation from MIT.
 * Sue discovering the relationship between Ezra and Aria
 * New Directions win at Regionals.

Trivia

 * Darren Criss, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Lucy Hale and Chord Overstreet are the only main cast members to have appeared in every episode. Recurring guest stars, Melissa Benoist and Jacob Artist also are in all the episodes. This also makes this season the one with the most absent main cast members. This also means that Kevin McHale is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of Glee, with Jenna Ushkowitz appearing in all but one.
 * Last season in which Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Mark Salling, Amber Riley, and Harry Shum Jr. are main cast members.
 * Cory Monteith was supposed to be main cast in season 5, but unexpectedly and sadly died shortly before filming began.
 * This season marks the first time that Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera, and Amber Riley have been absent.
 * Heather Morris and Harry Shum Jr. are also both absent for the first time, since their introduction.
 * Family members of Marley, Jake, Artie, Aria Emma, and Unique were all introduced.
 * For now, it is the season with the least amount of released albums, without counting EPs.
 * Also, despite having a "Season 4, Volume 1" disc, there was no other volumes released.
 * Puck and Mike are the only main cast to not have solos.
 * Finn's solo was only on an album, and wasn't featured in an episode.
 * There were only two episodes with the full main cast, Thanksgiving and I Do.
 * There were only four episodes with all twelve members of New Directions present; Thanksgiving, Sadie Hawkins, Girls (and Boys) On Film and All or Nothing. The Role You Were Born to Play and Glease does not count since Kitty and Ryder weren't members yet.
 * Except for competitions, there were only two group numbers, in which all of the current New Directions members performed, Shout and Footloose, both performed in Girls (and Boys) on Film.
 * Sam and Marley are the only New Directions members which appear in every New Directions group number. Tina, Artie and Blaine also appear in all but Born to Hand Jive.
 * Glease is the third tribute to a musical. The first was The Rocky Horror Glee Show and second was West Side Story (The First Time).
 * Two couples broke up over the summer, Tina and Mike and Sam and Mercedes.
 * This is the final television appearance of Cory Monteith, who died unexpectedly on July 13, 2013.
 * This also marks the last time Finn Hudson is on the show, with his final appearance being Sweet Dreams.
 * For now, it is the season that has the most number of mash-up songs released and performed.
 * Even though Lea Michele was supposed to appear in every episode, Rachel Berry is absent in The Role You Were Born To Play, Dynamic Duets and Shooting Star.
 * This season produced a lot of controversy due to the relationship between Ezra Fitz and Aria Montgomery as he was her teacher.

Albums released in or during the Season

 * Britney 2.0 (EP)
 * Glee: The Music Presents Glease
 * Glee: The Music, Season 4, Volume 1
 * Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 3