No Longer a Full-Time Cast Member: Naya Rivera, who has been a part of Glee since the series premiere, has become a fan favorite, with her character Santana getting more and more screen time as the seasons progressed. However in the second half of the fifth season, Rivera's presence in Glee became spotty, with her character jetting off to an island for a few episodes, then returning, and then being written out of the series' fifth season finale. Sources confirm that Naya will not be a series regular for the show's final, sixth season. However, she is expected to appear on a recurring basis.
Why She Left: Back in September 2012, a report surfaced that Ms. D wanted to leave Glee to focus on big screen endevours, among other reasons, and that she was fighting to get out of her contract. After being a regular in the first three seasons, Agron's status on Glee was reduced to a recurring character status, only appearing in three out of the total 24 episodes.
How She Exited: After graduating from McKinley, Quinn moved to New Haven to attend Yale, hook up with her married professor (Yuck!) and attend Jodie Foster's clam bake.
How She Returned: Though she came back for Thanksgiving and Will and Emma's wedding (where she hooked up with Santana!), fans were upset by Quinn's absence in the Cory Monteith tribute episode. However, she returned for the 100th episode extravaganza, where she reunited with Puck—a k a her "soulmate."
Why She Left: Reports surfaced in April 2013 that Morris was expecting her first child with boyfriend Taylor Hubbell and a source told us at the time that it was "unlikely" she would return as a regular in season five. (They were right!)
How She Exited: After apparently becoming super-smart overnight, Brittany left McKinley mid-way through her senior year after being offered early admission at MIT. It is unknown if Lord and Lady Tubbington accompanied Brittany to MIT, or stayed at home.
How She Returned: Brittany S. Pierce graced the halls of McKinley again for Glee's special two-part 100th episode extravaganza and revealed that her fellow MIT collegues only view her as a "math monkey." She ran off with Santana for a romantic vacay, but when Santana returned to NYC, Brittany was no longer be her side and there was no mention of Miss Pierce's blatant absence.
Why He Left: Roughly halfway through Glee's fifth season, the TV gods at Fox decided to switch things up on the musical comedy and focus solely on the New York side of things. Since Morrison's character is the heart of McKinley High, it didn't make sense for Will to pack up and move to NYC with a baby on the way. Morrison recently told us that he "thinks" Will will be back in some way for season six. The 35-year-old actor added that although his time on the hit series has been 'incredible," Morrison is "looking forward to new challenges" in his career.
How He Exited: In the special two-part 100th episode event, almost all of Will's former glee club students returned to pay their respects to the dismemberment of the New Directions.
How He's Returned: Will came back to the Glee universe a few episodes later to wish Rachel luck on her opening night for Broadway's Funny Girl. Unfortunately, he didn't even stay for the performance because Emma went into labor! Will is now the proud father of little Daniel Finn Schuester.
Why She Left: Mays was a series regular until season four, when she was bumped down to a recurring character due to the actress' other commitments. Since the fall of 2013, Mays has been starring in CBS's new comedy, The Millers.
How She Exited: Emma never really "exited" in a sense. She has always been here or there around the halls of McKinley offering students words of wisdom and overly blunt pamphlets.
How She Returned: Emma has popped up throughout seasons four and five of Glee, and her character has come a long way despite her cutback of episodes. She and Will are happily married, and the two most recently welcomed their son, Daniel Finn Hudson, into the world.
Why She Left: Amber Riley was bumped down to a recurring character status in season five and she filled her time off by winning Dancing With the Stars with her partner Derek Hough. Not a bad way to pass the time!
How She Exited: She moved to Los Angeles, where she was pursuing a career as a recording artist. Despite not being a series regular, Mercedes made a few visits to Lima.
How She Returned: Most recently, Mercedes moved to NYC in season six to be with Sam, Kurt, Blaine, Rachel and the rest of the gang to add big city vibe to her upcoming album. (Whatever that means.) She has since rekindled her romance with Sam and is also living with him. Glee creator
Looking ahead: Ryan Murphy has said that "everyone who wants to be a part of season six can be," and the show will return its focus back to the characters everyone loved in season one. Who are you hoping will be there? Hit the comments!
Why He Left: In season five, the Glee higher-ups demoted Salling to a recurring character.
How He Exited: After Puck barely made the grades to graduate, he ran off to the bright lights of Hollywood in season four in hopes of becoming an actor, and later a screenwriter.
How He Returned: Once Puck discovered that Jake was his younger half-brother, our Mohawk-lover moved back to Lima to bond with the younger Puckerman, hook up with a high schooler and eventually decided to go college with Finn. Since Finn's passing, Puck has really turned his life around by joining the Airforce and winning the affections of his lady love, Quinn.
Why He Left: Shum has been on quite the casting rollercoaster ride since Glee's debut. The actor was a recurring character in Season One (mainly just an incredibly skilled dancer/prop) and season Two. However, the powers-that-be promoted Shum to a regular for Season Three and Season Four but then made as a recurring character again in Season Five. We haven't seen him much since.
How He Exited: Along with the other Glee club seniors, Mike graduated at the end of the third season and made it into the uber-prestigious Joffrey Ballet Academy of Dance in Chicago.
How He Returned: This season, Mike returned to McKinley for Finn's memorial as well as the dismemberment of the glee club in the special two-part 100th episiode.
Why He Left: McGinty first came to the Fox series after co-winning the first season of Oxygen's The Glee Project. This original winning arc of seven episodes was inflated to 18 over the course of season three. In July of 2012, executive producer Brad Falchuk told a group of reporters that McGinty would not be returning to the WMHS halls for season four. "The second half of the season, who knows," he said. "Right now, he won't be in the first half of the season."
How He Exited: After striking up an adorable friendship with Brittany, and a brief fling with Sugar, Rory's time at Glee came to an end in the season three finale, "Goodbye."
How He Returned: McGinty did appear briefly in season four's Christmas episode "Glee Actually" as Artie's "Christmas Guardian Angel" but he was never seen or heard from again.
Why He Left: After co-winning The Glee Project's first season, Larsen was awarded with a seven-episode arc, which later evolved into a total of 23 episodes over seasons three and four. However, like Vanessa Lengies, it is unclear as to why Larsen did not return to Glee in the series' fifth season.
How He Exited: After a brief romantic fling with Quinn in season three, Joe's main job on the series was offering the occasional one-liner and swaying in the back of any and all performances. Joe was last seen in season four's finale, "All or Nothing," and helped the New Directions win at regionals.
How He Returned: He hasn't.
Why She Left: Lengies first appeared on Glee as a recurring character in the season three premiere and was the founding member of the Troubletones. She kept her recurring character title in the fourth season which explained why she was frequently absent from episodes without any explanation. Lengies was cast in the ABC comedy Mixology and although she said the series would not conflict with her availability for Glee's fifth season, the actress has not been seen.
How She Exited: Sugar was last seen in the season four finale as Emma's flower girl in the impromptu Glee wedding.
How She Returned: She hasn't.
Why She Left: Fink appeared in a grand total of four episodes in Glee's first season, but her presence was significantly increased in the following season when she joined the New Directions. Fink's role was dramatically reduced in season three.
How She Exited: Lauren just kind of disappeared towards the end of her junior year at McKinley. After breaking things off with Puck and quitting the glee club, Zizies was last officially seen dancing in the audience as Brittany rallied the girls with her brilliant performance of "Run the World (Girls)."
How She Returned: Like a phoenix rising from the wrappers of Mallomars (her fave treat!), Lauren reappeared for one episode in season four at the school's Sadie Hawkins dance.