Over the course of Glee's two hour Season 6 premiere, viewers got to know the four newest members of McKinley High's New Directions: Jane, who transferred from Dalton Academy after being rejected from the all-male Warblers; Roderick, an overweight loner with the voice of a soul god; and Madison & Mason McCarthy, two oddball Cheerios called "the incest twins" by Kitty. We met a fifth new character, Spencer, a "post-modern gay" football player who aspires to be quarterback and hates all things glee. But what viewers might not have noticed was that the show actually introduced us to a sixth new character during the premiere, although his only appearance in the first two episodes amounted to a cameo. Meet Clint (The Wanted's Max George), lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline.
You'd be forgiven if you simply assumed that the young man singing Van Halen's "Dance The Night Away" was just an extra with a good set of pipes, but that's actually none other than George, one of the five members of the Anglo-Irish boyband The Wanted.
If you're not super familiar with The Wanted, that's okay — they're definitely more well-known on their side of the Atlantic. But they have had moderate success Stateside, especially with their 2012 single "Glad You Came," which hit number three on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, if you're a true Glee fan, then I guarantee you know this song, since Sebastian (Grant Gustin of The Flash) and the Warblers covered it during their Regionals setlist back in Season 3.
In 2013, the band had their own reality series on E! titled The Wanted Life, which documented both the everyday lives of the singers as well as their work recording their third studio album and preparing for a world tour. After their tour, The Wanted collectively announced on Jan. 22 of last year that they would be taking a hiatus to pursue solo endeavors. It didn't take George long to find his next project.
So what will the 26-year-old British singer be doing on Glee? George's IMDb page has him listed as appearing in three episodes, including the first, "Loser Like Me." That means we'll be seeing him at least two more times — and quite possibly more, since not much is known about the season's later episodes yet. Clint will next pop up in the fourth episode of the final season, titled "The Hurt Locker," when the New Directions and Vocal Adrenaline converge for a non-competition Invitationals sing-off. Thanks to Ms J's Big Blog's spoilers from the Glee set, we know that Clint will be leading his group in two songs: The B-52's "Rock Lobster" and Devo's "Whip It."
After that, George will appear in Episode 7, titled "Transitioning." No description has been provided for that episode yet, so we don't know what Clint will be up to, but we do know that the hour will also feature the return of transferred New Direction member Wade "Unique" Adams, who will be singing "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray with a Transperson choir, all thanks to this spoiler:
With Clint and Unique appearing in the same episode with their respective choirs, could "Transitioning" possibly be Sectionals?
It remains to be seen whether Clint will become an actual character on the show (a la Gustin's Sebastian), or whether George's presence is merely a bit of stunt casting (like when American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez appeared in the Season 4 finale as the lead singer of The Hoosierdaddies). Personally, I hope Clint gets actual scenes and screen time; the fact that FOX hasn't really been advertising George's casting at all leads me to believe that it's not just a stunt. Hopefully we'll get to know Clint a little bit better in just a couple of weeks.
Image: gleegif/tumblr
