A shift in the storyline of Glee will see the characters become increasingly ambitious while McKinley High School will also welcome new students and teachers next season on the Fox/Global series.

Co-creator Ian Brennan, who led a master class at the Banff World Television Festival, would not disclose any names but said the producers are bringing in several ‘awesome’ new characters (some of which are auditioning on MySpace) and high-profile guest stars as the hit musical comedy looks to ‘step up’ in its sophomore season.

‘The larger questions we pose in the second season [revolve around] inclusion and belonging…it’s more about can [the Glee club] still win and can everyone be included?,’ explained Brennan, who is one of the show’s three-member story room that also includes co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.

The series was the highest-rated new show last season on Fox and Global, prompting a quick second and third season order from the U.S. broadcaster.

Brennan, who was in a glee club in high school, conceived of the idea and wrote a screenplay that landed in Murphy’s lap. Murphy and Falchuck (who both worked on Nip/Tuck), ‘re-pitched’ Brennan’s script to him because the initial draft was ‘too dark.’

‘They said ‘how about a network TV show?’ I said ‘sure, that would be awesome,” Brennan jokingly recalls. The Illinois-native, who writes most of the lines for villain Sue Sylvester (played by Jane Lynch), says the audience favourite was not in the original draft.

‘There was a network note in the original draft saying that we needed a nemesis [to Matthew Morrison’s Mr. Schuester) in the school,’ he remembers, adding that Lynch ‘should be given every award’ for nailing the character. She received a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actress last year.

The show’s tremendous success feels ‘very surreal’ to Brennan, who says the pilot tested okay and that initial numbers were good but not mind-blowing.

While the creators turned to Broadway to find many of the show’s lead characters, including Morrison and Lea Michele, it was Calgary-native Cory Monteith that snapped up the role of quarterback-turned-singer Finn Hudson.

‘Cory’s part was hard to cast. The actor playing that role had to be Canadian…I think if Cory was American, he wouldn’t be the same kid,’ Brennan says.