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Glee Casting Scoop: Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Javier Bardem...Who's In and Who's Out?!

Find out which stars are in attendance this season! And why Paul McCartney sent in a mixtape!

By Kristin Dos Santos Jul 29, 2010 2:00 PMTags

Glee is back, baby! OK, not on your television set just yet, but the stars are finally back on set as of today.

So what, and more importantly who, can we expect to see this season? The cast and producers hit up the TV Academy to celebrate their 19 nominations, and when Matthew Morrison wasn't assaulting me (see Part 1!), boss Ryan Murphy was spilling scoop on the status of Jonathan Groff, Javier Bardem, Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel and….wait a minute…Paul McCartney?!

This is high school, so let's do a little roll call on season two, shall we? Starting off with the most exciting:

Patrick Ecclesine/FOX

Jonathan Groff: Present! "Jonathan is doing a play in London till January," boss Ryan Murphy explains. "But yeah, as it moves toward the big competition, I think he has to come back and give Rachel a pep talk, don't you? So yes, he will be back." Allow me to repeat those words to you: Yes, Jonathan Groff will be back on Glee. I'll pause while you spazz out with jazz hands, back flips and/or raucous applause...your choice.

John Stamos: Present! Jayma Mays is just a smidge excited for her "first date" with her new love interest as you can see in the exclusive video above! Says Ryan, "A lot of people don't realize, but you know, in the tradition of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth and Jonathan Groff, he has had really great experience on Broadway, and we're excited about him and think he is perfect for this role."

Neil Patrick Harris: (Fingers Crossed) Present! They're working on it. "We would love to have Neil back," Ryan says. "We have a little problem that he's a regular on another show. But he's in the Fox family and they help us out a great deal with that. I think we've just begun to see the tip of the villainry for Brian Ryan."

When I suggested Teri Schuester (Jessalyn Gilsig) hook up with NPH's Brian Ryan (who, remember, had a crush on her in high school), Ryan said: "I think that's a great idea actually. We had Jessalyn ear-marked for another person but…" To which Jessalyn interjected: "Who? Javier Bardem? Yo hablo Espanol." ¡Yo LOL!

Javier Bardem: ¡Presente! "It was a very sweet thing," Ryan says about meeting Javier. "I'm doing a movie, Eat Pray Love, and Javier Bardem is in it with Julia Roberts. I hadn't met him, and so I went up to him and I said, 'Buddy, congratulations on your Best Actor nomination at Cannes.' And he said, "I do not want to talk about that I want to talk about Glee.' He rented the whole first season and watched them and said it was like crack to him. And he loved what it was about and he asked if I would write him a role. He said, "I want to be a Spanish rock 'n' roll star." And so I'm going to see him this week and we'll see how he's going to fit in. It will definitely be in the second half of the season."

Wicked Awesome Stars: Present! Says Ryan: We're going to have Kristin Chenoweth back. Idina Menzel back. People that we love we love and we just keep bringing them back.

Paul McCartney: Would Like to Be Present! When asked about the actors and musicians who are now asking to be a part of Glee, Ryan revealed that Paul McCartney is one of them. "The other day a package arrived at my office and I opened it up and it said 'Mixtape From Paul McCartney.' It was very sweet...It was a CD, I apologize. It was these amazing songs that I grew up with. And I said, "Is this a joke?" It literally said "Greeting, from Paul." This is a strange, strange world we live in, and it's awesome."

Mike Chang, Brittany and Santana: More Present! You'll see more of all three of these character this season, complete with Santana-Brittany liplock and Mike-Tina pairing. "We just happened upon three really brilliant people," executive producer Ian Brennan explains. "We're just like holy s--t. And then to be able to find room for these people and to be able to investigate them is such a joy. I can't wait for those episodes."

All Your Old Faves: Present! This quote might excite you fans the most, cause Ryan is making sure we know that they are not turning Glee into a guest-star-of-the-week or theme-of-the-week show. "I think because of the back half of the first season, people thought that season two would be bigger and brighter and more numbers," Ryan tells me, "but actually we are doing a different approach. When we did the tour, we saw how people just went nuts when these kids came out and we really feel a responsibility to write to the characters we have and break them out and give them more moments to shine." Say it with me now: Holllleeer.

Make sure you check out the video clip at top for Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Jayma Mays and more of your favorite stars dishing on getting back to work on season two—and John Stamos!

And because Christmas has come early, there will be a Part 3 of this Glee scoop, with the producers and stars dishing on the Britney and Rocky Horror episodes. Check back tomorrow!

In the meantime, make sure you see Matthew Morrison kissing me—and John Stamos emailing me about it!—and a ton of other Glee romance scoop you may also find interesting in Part 1.

And check out more photos from Tuesday night:

Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX
Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX
Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX
Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX
Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX
Frank Micelotta and Mark Davis/FOX

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Follow @kristindsantos on Twitter.

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