Prepare to not get Zized when Glee returns this fall.
Sources confirm to TVLine exclusively that Ashley Fink’s screen time will be drastically reduced following the Sept. 20 season premiere, which finds her recurring (and somewhat polarizing) character, Lauren Zizes, abruptly [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT] quitting New Directions and breaking up with her steady beau Puck (Mark Saling), who spent much of Season 2 wooing the demanding, plus-sized tough girl.
Glee Spoiler Alert: Brittany For President?
The news comes a week after Fox released the show’s official Season 3 gallery pics, which featured practically every major cast member — including recurring performers Dot Marie Jones and Lauren Potter — but not Fink.
Lauren’s sudden estrangement from the New Directions crew marks a dramatic turnaround from Season 2, where her character was frequently front and center — fist-fighting with Santana, briefly serving as a manager to Mercedes, and even scoring a solo on “I Know What Boys Like.” In fact, Fink often had more screen time than established series regulars like Amber Riley.
So what’s going on? A Glee spokesperson declined to comment and Fink’s camp could not be reached. An insider, however, downplays the news, maintaining that as a recurring player, Fink’s storyline ebbs and flows much the same way Max Adler’s (Karofsky) does. Additionally, the show has to service 16 regulars, as well as arcs for four Glee Project winners. And that’s not even including new recurring castmembers Vanessa Lengies and LaMarcus Tinker.
New Glee Promo: Quinn’s In the Pink, Finn Looks Blue and Britt’s Planing… Time Travel?
Still, another source admits the decision to have Lauren quit New Directions and split with Puck — effectively severing the character’s only two ties to the show’s central action — is strange. “It’s odd to go from being the ‘It Girl’ last season to getting tossed on the backburner,” concedes the insider. “But this is Glee. Just when everyone thinks she’s out, they may pull her back in.”
Thoughts? Are you OK with this development? Or are you already missing Lauren? Hit the comments! And for more Glee scoop/spoilers, follow me on Twitter via @MichaelAusiello
I’ll be glad to see less of Lauren. She’s better as a background character.
Agreed, I finding her character too annoying in large doses.
Wrong. Lauren was one of two bright spots in the god-awful second season of Glee (the other being Jessalyn Gilsig’s Terri). I am a huge fan of “Luck” so I am not happy about this development. Lauren + Puck 4EVA!!!!!!!
Yes to everything Sivat said!!!!!!!! except the Lauren + Puck 4EVA thing…QUINN AND PUCK 4EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quinn’s an ice queen and doesn’t deserve to be happy. She is a b!tch.
I’ll never understand people who think this way. Seriously? After all Santana has done… Quinn is still the “b*tch” who is undeserving of happiness and Santana deserves to be happy with Brittany? Please. Santana is and always has been far worse than Quinn.
LOL, wtf are you talking about, Deanna? What does Santanna have to do with anything?! No one mentioned her! For the record, Santanna is an evil bitch too and also deserves to be miserable forever.
Quinn is just self-centered.
But, hey. We keep forgetting that just because the actors are in their twenties it doesn’t mean the characters are in their twenties. They are teenagers. They have the right to be a bit self-centered and immature. They. Are. Teenagers.
Pull your memories from High School (or watch a teenager, if your memories aren’t that fresh) and many kids are like that. Many are playing games they doesn’t understand yet. And I think Quinn is like that.
She’s just trying to be what people expect her to be. That’s it. And, apparently, it won’t be exactly like that in the third season. Perhaps she’s growing up.
If we’re gonna judge her, we might as well judge her for telling Finn the baby was his. But, hey, Finn forgave her, so why don’t we?
Rachel is the most annoying character, ice queen, total b!tch. If anyone deserves to end alone is her!
Maybe my expectations were too high, but the girl couldn’t even wrestle (and for the record, colleges, not the WWE, recruit from high school wrestling teams). I’m a big supporter of using stunt doubles when your actresses can’t do the moves required of the characters. Stunt standards for females on TV are too low. Also, She couldn’t sing, and she couldn’t dance. I found very little redeeming about her character. That said, I do have to give Glee props for casting a girl who is not “traditional Hollywood pretty” as the love interest for the jock character, but they should have tried to make her likable. I’m glad Coach Bieste will be back. I actually like her.
Yeah, I never understood her character. Personally, I couldn’t connect with Lauren in any way and there was nothing special about her character. And with a cast as big as Glee’s, every person needs to have something special or redeeming. Definitely didn’t understand the amount of screen time she got or what all her hype was about.
Coach Bieste, there’s a definition of not ‘traditional Hollywood pretty’ but she’s such a wonderful character. I felt everything about Lauren was too contrived and not real at all.
I definitely agree with you. I feel like Lauren wasn’t properly developed as a character. I don’t think it was intentional, but her character just seemed to be there as a “big girl” stereotype. The show lauded her for her confidence, but in reality, she really was just arrogant. There could have been an interesting storyline about her using arrogance as a cover for her insecurity, but Glee never gave her that depth.
I have really come to enjoy the Coach Bieste character. However, I didn’t like her patronizing kiss from Will. Other than that, they’ve done a pretty good job with her.
She just seemed… demanding.
It’s just that she was used *only* as a plot-device rather than a character so… Well, we didn’t really met her.
I just ran into Ashley at Michael’s craft store in Burbank and she could not have been any cuter or more gracious with her fans. I hope she comes back as a regular soon.
Please keep Lauren on the show ~ keep it real ~ instead of just plastic pretty people!!!
i totally agree with you. Lauren and Puck forever
I’ll be glad too! Yup, if she’s still on the show, it should be in the same capacity as she started. In very small doses, she’s kind of bearable.
They probably can’t afford the craft services budget for her. Revolting fatty – lose weight. These disgusting fat people do nothing but consume – terrible for the environment.
wow.. a lot of sad pent up hate against a person who has done nothing to you. Lame internet troll.
ikr
You seem to be comfortable trashing other people. I’m curious, what makes YOU so perfect and capable of judging others? You seem to belittle this person because of her weight. Although her character on the show has been less than impressive, it is NOT because of her weight. That’s my opinion.
Thanks John for sticking up for Lauren, and Miffy you need to grow up and nix the hateful attitude!
I hear ya. Great to empower young women with confidence issues, etc but I find her whole storyline with Puck utterly unbelievable. She’s not even a v good singer, so I don’t really get it. More screen time for Sue & Brittany I say :0) x
Uggh, Brittany is a useless character. Lauren had personality. If people knew more about Ashley Fink, they’d know that she has a strong musical theatre background, so she can more than likely sing. She’s funny. “I Know What Boys Like” by the Waitresses is NORMALLY sung in a monotone voice, so it wasn’t her fault that the singing was less than average, she was probably just doing what she was told. And the girl is big, dancing isn’t easy, even for skinny people, I give her a lot of props for getting out there and working it.
I miss Ashley Fink. Please bring her back on a more regular basis. I thought she was the best and most entertaining aspect of Glee last season (along with Blaine naturally).
Finally. There was nothing enjoyable about her or her character. It’s too bad this probably means Puck/Quinn though, what a shame.
i never liked her character either. she was just so blah. either way though. i’ll keep watching.
Yeah.. not a fan of Puck and Quinn at all. Honestly I like Puck with Rachel. I think it humanizes him.
I’m with you on this one. Puck and Rachel do have lots of chemistry. They are better matched both physically and musically than Finchel. And I never liked Puck with Quinn either. As for Lauren Zizes, I am relieved she’ll be leaving New Directions. She didn’t add anything to the glee club.
There are new characters, so nothing’s written in stone yet. The new girl, Sugar, might be his love interest this season.
Or he could be a womanizer again.
I adore Ashley and loved Lauren but as a Quick fan, I am glad she wont be in s3 as much as she was in s2
I love Ashley, but I must say I’m not all that sad that Lauren is quitting New Directions. :/
hahahahahahaha did she think she was an it girl? really?
That quote isn’t credited to Lauren, it’s an unnamed source. And she was featured pretty prominently in several stories last season.
I like Ashley, and would have liked Lauren if they’d made her confident in her skin instead of mean and bossy. There’s a difference.
I like her too. Maybe the character was mean & bossy because she really wasn’t comfortable in her own skin & they could’ve explored that while she was dating Puck. Guess we’ll never know. I liked Puck with her. He got all sappy & confused.
Her being “mean & bossy” was actually her being comfortable in her own skin. She wasn’t afraid to be a big girl with attitude. She’s the biggest bad ass at Mckinley, Puck says so himself.
Works for me. She did nothing for me and the Puck relationship was beyond ridiculous.
Why, because she’s overweight? Their relationship was no more ridiculous than anyone’s on the show, so I assume you’re talking about the actual plausibility of her dating Puck.
Yes, because she’s overweight. It’s supposed to be HIGH SCHOOL. Puck’s character has always been skin deep in a lot of ways. He is into pleasure and into looks and likes being popular. Dating a girl who is no just a little chunky but full on obese – is a kiss of death to a lot of young guys. His falling for her was silly – especially since she didn’t have a winning personality either.
I don’t know if it’s always the kiss of death for adolescent boys. And given that overweight is becoming the norm, is it so weird that one boy could be a chubby chaser? Nope, not that weird.
Are you serious? Puck never cared about being POPULAR. He cared about being feared. Lauren was a badass. They were perfect together.
No, Puck cared about being popular. Example: In season 1, the episode Laryginits, when Puck decided to date Mercedes to get back into McKinnley High’s “swing of things”.
Overweight is an understatement, she’s MORBIDLY OBESE. But, not only that, she could barely move (don’t call that dancing), her singing was pretty bad and her acting is no better.
The Puck relationship was more than ridiculous, not only from the physical point of view but because there was not even a tiny spark. Some may argue, this might apply to Artie and Brittany, which is not the case. You could see there was something there (that’s call acting and making us believe something that may be unlikely in real life).
Have you watched the show? Nothing about it is very believable, but that’s the realm of musical theatre. Ashley Fink is a great actress, and if you look into her history, she has a musical theatre background, so she can most likely sing and act. She’s a big girl, with a big personality. Get over it.
Because Puck told Quinn “I’m not into fat girls” when Quinn was pregnant?
Aside from that… She was just meant to Puck. And then, she saw Puck as a mean to her ends (for example, becoming Prom Queen, when Puck didn’t give a damn).
Perhaps Puck deserved it, but I didn’t like it.
Yeas because of that. Because guy like Puck (pretty, popular athlete, guy who chases girls) would cheat on Lauren in two weeks. Even if he would find it fun to date her at first – he would be bored in two weeks from it and would jump to another girl. Their relationships was ridiculous and not believable. And in a very interesting way Glee scriptwriters missed the fact that from the moment that Puck began dating Lauren – he would be mocked by every guy and girl in school. And his football team mates would laugh and slush him all the time. Remember how they all laughed at Finn and others. And here they completely ignored that Puck dated obese girl. Somehow Glee creators just ignored that fact. They created this gay bushing story for Kurt. But Puck would be mocked too.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO TRUE>Totally absurd storyline. Puck and Lauren no way!! Lauren singing and dancing HA HA!!!! So not funny. Her purpose was to tame the untamed badass sex shark who doesn’t care about any girls feelings but his own gratifications at anyone’s expense. She did make him more human with some feelings for someone else meaning her. But I agree Puckleberry has so much charm and charisma and chemistry. So love them together but as friends who kid each other ruthlessly. Rachel was able to reach deep into Puck’s untouchable insecurities and make him humble and it would be funny. Such as his makeout skills his guns his doing a solo when he was insecure about his abilities. That is why I just love Mark Salling as Puck. But as for Lauren so glad her character will be and should be an extreme background character as in s1. Now for Ashley Fink as an actor she is great.
Bring on the Quinn/Puck storyline PLEASE!!!!
I wish they’d replace her with Hannah from Glee Project. I absolutely loved everything about her!!
This. Hanna has a fantastic personality, a good voice, and a sweet disposition. I like her and wish she had been added to the cast.
Pizes Is OVER?! Quick is sooooooooo on!!!!!
She probably remembered she worked for Ryan Murphy and realized how big of a douche he is and wanted out. I like Glee but Murphy is an douchebag who needs a good kick in the ass for the way he treat his cast and how he reacts when a band or singer doesnt want their song on the show, news flash Murphy not every singer/band likes ur show or wants to be featured on it, just get over it.
I love Zizes. I will miss her, but they are right, she did seem to get a lot more air time than others like Mercedes last year. I am glad Glee is trying to make time for everyone. I just hope she has more screen time than just being another person walking thorugh the hallway!
I agree she did get more airtime that others, and with her being a ball-busting, plus sized girl, I liked that. But it did take away time from others like Mercedes and Tina. However, I don’t think this is the best route to take, and frankly it just speaks to how freaking erratic and unbalanced this show is. As much as I like it, they are just all over the place with plot and character development. And now with the introduction of more people to the cast?? How will they ever be able to address anything properly?
Bummer. I enjoy her scenes.
I was always sort of torn on her. Sometimes I liked her, others I really didn’t. My only real concern is over Max Adler’s character. He’s a character I love, and really identify with. I’ve had to overcome many of the same demons as his character, and I desperately want redemption and resolution for his character. I know many hate him (which makes me sad), but there are a large number of us out there who care deeply for him. It would also be a shame to waste Max Adler’s tremendous talent.
Agree with you 1000%. Dave Karofsky IS a polarizing character, but at the same time, many, many fans (viewers BTW who usually get zero representation on TV) identified with him. His story is far from finished. And in addition to being an exceptional actor, Max Adler seems to be a level-headed and articulate young man: he’s the perfect vehicle to carry a dramatic storyline that has and would continue to generate conversation in the fandom and beyond.
I agree wholeheartedly with you both. Both of you have articulated the things that I wanted to say perfectly.
OMG! Thank god she’s out. It was about time!
:( I loved Lauren!!!! :( I liked her in New Directions, I hate it when the writers put someone in the club and then take them out for no real reason!!! Just like the Quinn baby storyline disappeared, I bet they’ll have Lauren pretending she wasn’t even ever in the club :(
She gave up the baby. What was left to that storyline?
Just because giving up a baby is hard for some women, it doesn’t mean it’s hard for every woman. She had already decided on that, she was happy with her decision, she knew Beth was in good hands… What was left to discuss?
If anyone, I think the one who wasn’t satisfied with the end of this storyline was Puck, but not Quinn. If that’s the case, Puck’s being pretty awesome by not forcing Quinn to talk about something she considers closed.
Though, now with Shelby back… DNW.
That isn’t true, Quinn was devastated after loosing Beth, and i think that if she had been able to provide for Beths she would have kept her.
Seeing as Lauren only joined the glee club to ensure they had the required 12 members (she could never sing or dance), I’d expect her to no longer be in the club once membership is not an issue.
This is a wee bit disturbing to me. I just think it is sad that the spin off isn’t happening because Glee hasn’t gotten a handle on how to juggle their cast. Although that was before the hiring of the new writers so perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It also makes me sad that the NYC spin-off isn’t happening since then there would be more breathing room to feature characters like Tina and the horrifically underused Jenna U.
Agree to a tee. Just a great diservice to a very talented performer and actress. Jenna U
THANK GOD! No offence to Ashley Fink, but Lauren was a terrible character. Nasty,annoying,and not at all funny. This is the best news I’ve heard from Glee since…eek…
Good. Ashley seems nice and all, but Lauren is annoying, and was much funnier in smaller doses, when she was a better version of Jacob. I don’t think there’s any big drama or that it’s a huge deal, like the article says, she got way too much screentime as it was, moreso than people like Mercedes, Mike and Tina, so her reduced screentime is a gift, IMO.
I hope she is out. The whole premise of her character in the show was beyond ridiculous.
i hope she leaves the show entirely. her character was awful. hopefully they realized that. this sounds like great news…hopefully she’s really gone for good.
totally saw this coming. doesn’t this make it perfect for blaine to join new directions? and wow, could they actually or possibly bring back quinn/puck?!
Thought she was a great addition to the Glee family, but was not essential to the Glee club itself, especially since she didn’t sing or dance. Gives Glee a chance to add more singing characters to the club since rules stipulate that there have to be 12 singers in Glee. Now with Zizes and Sam gone, two more can join. (Blaine?)
“Thought she was a great addition to the Glee family, but was not essential to the Glee club itself, especially since she didn’t sing or dance.” <—– YES!!! I hope they keep her around. I personally thought her comedic timing was impeccable. But perhaps keep her in the hallways and outside of the glee classroom/performances.
If they use this move to get Puck and Quick together again I’ll throw up. Ryan Murphy sucks and apparently getting new writers is not helping his lack of creativity any.
Agreed. And I thought things couldn’t get any worse with Finchel back together. Quick need closure not a comeback.
I really liked Lauren’s character, and was hoping they would do a Lauren/Mercedes/Quinn trio storyline. Nevertheless I’m glad she quit ND.
Maybe it’s cause she can’t sing or dance very well? She is put to shame by the talent of the others. Why she was on the glee live tour seemed pointless.
I never warmed up to the character. They have so many other cast members, I’m sure it will be for the better.
I feel bad for Ashley, but I am ready for some Quinn/Puck/Beth/Shelby scenes.
This sucks.
Not cool. Ashley Fink is amazing and a much better character than Quinn or Karofsky. This needs to be rectified immediately, LAUREN ZIZES = AWESOME!
She should be a regular who cares about the GP runner-ups, Ashley Fink is the best.
If this is to put Quinn and Puck together that’s ridiculous, they have no chemistry whatsover and had barely any scenes together last year let alone had Q acting jealous towards the relationship between L and P. Boo RM, boo!
You have to admit there is no LOGIC or RHYME or REASON to anything on GLEE. RM has his own agenda. Yes Lauren was a better written character s2 than Quinn s2. Quinn was so blah. No emotion. But I’m hoping with the new writers and new direction the team is supposed to be going that the writing for all characters will be a shining force for all. I mean look at Will and Emma they became wall art s2. Story arcs so outlandish. OCD queen gets married on a whim. Will unable to make any decisions at all except to fall on his face after his divorce. Matt sung so little s2. S2 was a very deliberate and unconventional attempt at chaos with some musical performances with guests stars thrown in. Not their finest moment IMO. Some things were interesting but way too much chaos and upheaval for my taste. I’ll say again I’m hoping for great story telling for s3 and beyond. My fingers are crossed.
Woohooo!!! Bring on Quick please!! That’s what everyone wants anyway.
She is another element they ran into the ground, Brittany and Sue are better in small doses too.
Somehow I don’t think we will see the uproar as when they said it was Lea
Chris and Cory last year.
Does that mean that Puck will be bada$$ again? Sorry but she did kinda ruin my Puckness last season, so she won’t be missed on my part. That whole manager thing with Mercedes was weirder than anything I’ve ever seen on the show, so yeah I’m glad she’ll be pushed down so that the show can focus on its regulars (*crosses fingers on Puck*)
I believe that since she isn’t a series regular as of season 3 you owe us a great review of One Tree Hill like promised. But that is sad cause she was certainly an interesting character
i like the lauren zizes character although i like her as an acerbic foil for glee more than a member of the club. i hope she continues to pop up this season. i am still having a hard time getting over sam’s absence. i loved his dorky personality.
Quick is on! Can’t wait!
Let me get this straight. You bring her in for Season 2, to replace Kurt while he’s at Dalton, fair enough. You keep her after he returns, you take Ashley Fink on tour, you have her do press interviews, and even after Chord leaves, you have her depart New Directions as well??? You’ve now lost 2 members of New Directions after having 13 in the last minute of Season 2, and before the first minute of Season 3. Disappointed….
I still think it’s funny that Glee has these characters it focuses on in season 2 and gives storylines to and makes people get attached to them and then basically dumps them, and now they’re bringing in this batch of 50 new characters and expects fans to accept them? Why should fans accept or get attached to these new characters when they’re getting rid of (pardon, “drastically reducing the airtime of”) characters like Sam, Lauren, and even Karofsky, who were featured in season 2 and already have a fanbase? People getting attached to these new kids should go into it knowing there’s a good chance they won’t be there in season 4.
I like Ashley, but the character works best in small doses and the relationship with Puck really neutered him. I just hope this isn’t paving the way for Puck/Quinn — that would be really trite and obvious, and Puck works much better as a single character so he’s free to seduce random girls, moms, and Breadstix waittresses.
bye not really gonna miss the character, the actress seemed cool though.
Lauren’s character filled a hole (ND needs 12) and the casting department probably had not yet found a suitable replacement singer.
They gave her a lot of comedic air time, but with four GLP arcs and two new regulars, that argument is moot – and your Max Adler analogy is spot-on.
I already have an arc in mind, and Sam Larsen can be worked into it. It addresses Brittana, Artbritt, the two sides of Sam’s new character, and Sue Sylvester, plotting unlike she’s plotted before! There’s room for plenty of popular music to dovetail with it.
Lauren will still be available as a comedic foil if the writers so choose, and she seems to have to be a senior, anyway.
Absolutely no offense to the actress, but the character of Lauren was not likeable and not enjoyable to watch.
Obviously having Lauren and Quinn quit New Directions (Lauren for good, and Quinn for one or two episodes) is a way to fit in Damien’s foriegn exchange student, Rory and/or Sugar and Bubba. I won’t miss Zises, she always seemed like a filler character and obviously her breaking up with Puck is a way to reestablish Quinn and Puck. RM said no couples with break up this season, ha, he’s lying already. Would be interesting to see the dynamic that is Quick, but of coarse they come second to Finchel. Duh! :D
good, don’t care for her.
Incredibly annoying. So glad she’s gone.
This is the first time glee news has made me feel an emotion. And that emotion is not good.
I didn’t really care much for Lauren. Her only job was to give character development to Puck plus he singign voice isn’t that great. I just hope Max/Karofsky’s role is drastically reduced.
They’re just cutting her because they couldn’t figure out a way to make her gay. Sam’s out for the same reason.
I am kinda glad. I hated the character.
Lauren was one of those characters on Glee who was great in small doses, but they completely overdid it. They’ve pulled the same crap with Brittany and with Blaine. Oh, you like this character, audience? Here – have way more of them than you ever wanted to see until you hate the very sight of them on your teevee.
Agreed. Lauren is a good minor character that got elevated beyond what was needed.
They need to just do what’s good for the show, not pander to fans of character x or y.
By overdoing Lauren they blew an opportunity to introduce, test and potentially develop an underclassman or two.
Agreed.
MTE.
I’ll give you my thirteenth born.
I really didn’t like the episode where she was bullying Quinn. That was going to far for me.