'Glee': Chord Overstreet Officially Returning as Series Regular

Adam Rose/FOX

"Glee's" Chord Overstreet

Glee is repopulating New Directions, closing a deal to bring Chord Overstreet back to the Fox musical as a series regular.

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Overstreet, who was in talks to return to the series as a regular earlier this month, has officially closed his deal to portray Sam Evans in Glee's upcoming fourth season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Overstreet, who was brought in midway through Glee's second season and departed the Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuk series after his option to return as a regular was not picked up for Season 3, returned to the show as a recurring guest star last season after a brief detour to ABC's The Middle.

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Overstreet joins a somewhat depleted cast of regulars inside Glee's McKinley High, which last season saw stars Rachel (Lea Michele), Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Finn (Cory Monteith), among others, graduate from the series and start their post-high school lives.

Overstreet will be joined in Glee's Ohio setting with new series regular Jacob Artist, who will play Puck's (Mark Salling) younger brother who tries out for the glee club at the heart of the series.

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All 15 of Glee's series regulars from Season 3 will return in some capacity this year as the series explores story lines set in both Ohio and New York. The series is also in talks with Glee Project Season 1 co-winners Alex Newell and Samuel Larsen to return in Season 4, while Damian McGinty will not be back -- at least for the first half of Season 4.

Glee's fourth season premieres in its new night and time slot on Thursday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit