Exclusive

Glee's Santana and Brittany Over for Good? Naya Rivera Talks "Emotional" Finale "Wrapping Things Up"

Exclusive! Fan-favorite actresses dishes what to expect in final episodes of the season and beyond

By Kristin Dos Santos May 07, 2013 5:00 PMTags
Heather Morris, Naya Rivera, GleeBeth Dubber/FOX

And you Glee fans thought you ugly-cried about last year's season finale?

Granted, that train-station sobfest was intense, but we just chatted up Naya Rivera (Santana) about this Thursday's season finale of Glee, and now, let's just say we are bee-lining it to Costco to buy Kleenex in bulk!

As you may have heard, Brittany (Heather Morris) has been accepted by MIT in Boston, and Naya dished on what she knows about the "emotional" finale and what lies ahead for season five—plus, the latest on her real-life romance with Big Sean, and upcoming album...

 

What can you tell us about Brittany and Santana in the finale?
There are some really emotional scenes in there. Like, really emotional. Santana is figuring out what happens with Brittany's character, and I come back and obviously get to talk to her, and sort of wrap things up, and it's kind of sad. It feels like a graduation episode in a way even though nobody graduates.

Is this really a final end point for Brittany and Santana as a couple? Are we going to see both you and Heather [Morris] in season five?
The fact that she's like an idiot savant is genius, I love it. I thought she would either never graduate or become a genius, and I like that they did that. As far as what's happening with Heather on the show, I don't know. [Brittany] did get her acceptance to MIT and she is going to go there. And so I don't know what that really spells for them as a couple, but I've been saying for a while that I thought when we come back for season five, I would love to explore Santana as this independent adult living in this new city and what that means for her love life and all that good stuff.

There was so much talk going into season four about how it would work with all you seniors having graduated. How do you feel about how it all turned out? And what do you want for season five?
I was first and foremost very excited to see Santana finally go to New York. When I finished season three, I had heard mumurs of her going to New York and I had always hoped that that happened. So I'm really glad that she's there and I think the writers have done a really good job of integrating it into the storyline pretty seamlessly. Most episodes, there's one overall scene that both places are participating in. For next season,  I would like to see more of New York. Sometimes I feel like if we have four or five scenes, it's not really enough! Plus Artie's [Kevin McHale] coming to New York now, so we'll recruit more people and then maybe we'll get to be on full time.

You have some of the most passionate fans around, but it seems like you resisted a lot of social media until now…Why?
My fans are awesome. I'm in love with my fans. They are hard-core. I have stood on set and argued with other castmembers about who has the best fan base and I'm like, "I kind of think it's me. They would, like, kill someone for me." [laughs] No, they're great. I've always been on Twitter and done like Q&As and stuff and I really like interacting with fans, but I didn't understand how other things work, Instagram or Facebook or anything like that. So I actually hired a company to help me out with it, and now I'm obsessed with everything and I'm starting a Facebook page.

How is your album going?
The music has been coming together more so now than ever before. And I'm really happy about where it's at and hopefully I think that we'll be hearing something soon, fingers crossed.

And your real-life relationship with [rapper] Big Sean?
He's awesome and I'm really happy and I feel like I'm in a really good place in my life. So yeah, we're doing really well!