Darren Criss’ Emotional ‘Glee’ Farewell

“Glee” sings its last song on Friday, a goodbye that was very emotional for series star Darren Criss.

The 28-year-old chatted with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush about the Fox series taking the final bow after six seasons.

“It has been such a trip… it’s been a crazy emotional roller coaster, but yes, it is the time to tie the bow tie on it, so to speak,” Darren said of the show coming to a close.

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The actor/singer, who played Warbler-turned-New Direction member Blaine Anderson, is still having trouble grasping the enormity of the moment.

“It’s so surreal. It’s so much bigger than you. This isn’t just like graduating college or high school or any other moment in my life that I can equate to it, because that was my own experience, whereas this experience was a hell of a lot more people’s experience around the world. [‘Glee’] kind of belongs to everyone,” he explained.

And on the final day of filming in late February, did Darren’s emotions get the best of him?

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“Of course I cried! Who do you think I am? Of course,” he told Billy.

One particularly emotional part of the finale will be honoring the late Cory Monteith, which Darren spoke to Billy about.

“There is a tribute,” he said explaining that one episode of the two-part finale is titled “2009.” “It’s kind of this interesting flashback episode, which is fantastic.”

The actor, who wrote the finale song “This Time” for co-star Lea Michele, also looked back on playing a gay character on TV, something that inspired so many fans over the years. Darren said playing Blaine was an honor that made him feel like a super hero at times.

“I was given the Green Lantern ring in so far as, I was given something extraordinary that was much bigger than myself,” he said. “Like this is gonna mean something to people and you go, ‘OK, I hope I don’t mess this up.’ And so when people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, that character did it a lot for me or had an impact on my life,’ I can’t help it and I say, ‘Me too man.’ It’s something that’s really changed all of us and I feel privileged to have gotten to put on that sort of super hero outfit for other people.”

So will the Fox series live up its name when it comes to how the show will end?

“No one’s getting out of ‘Glee’ without a happy ending,” Darren teased. “It’s a joyful show and we try to tie everything up in a nice sort of way and I think their ending, or new beginning I should say is, is exciting and really cute.”

The two-hour “Glee” series finale airs Friday on Fox at 8/7c.

— Jesse Spero