SPOILERS: Lea Michele Talks Glee Season Three

By most accounts, the second season of Glee took the show in some surprising new directions. Darren Criss and the Warblers exploded onto the scene. "Born This Way" and The Rocky Horror Picture Show got their own episodes. Chris Colfer's character Kurt became a national emblem for the anti-bullying, "It Gets Better" movement. Perhaps most surprising was the way Lea Michele's fame-hungry Rachel faded into the background a bit — not wallflower faded, but she definitely let the spotlight languish on some of her friends.

Next season, things may be different. Whether or not Rachel's graduating will mean the same for Michele is still up in the air, despite much back-and-forth from producers, but her senior year opens the door for some spectacular numbers — especially since it will be time for the school musical. "I know that I have some really great story lines with [Colfer] and [Criss]," Michele told TheTVAddict.com. "I know that I'm going to be in the high school musical which I can't say but it's one of my dream roles — not Fanny Brice [from Funny Girl]. So I know that I'm doing that and I know that they're going back to a lot of classic songs. From the first script it was not a lot of top 10 songs but older songs which I love and am so excited to sing and lots of Broadway."

This third season, as creator Ryan Murphy has suggested, will also be less crammed with celebrity guest stars, which means more screen time for the show's main characters. Michele thinks that, along with fewer themed episodes, could be a really good thing, even though celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow add something special. "Here's the thing, I love focusing on the main characters, but I still love our guest stars. It's a great opportunity for people who may not be singers to get to come on and sing and have fun and for that I really hope that they continue to bring people on," she said. "As for the theme episodes, they are incredibly hard so if we don't do too many of those I think I would be OK."

But just as Rachel returns to center stage, she may find herself upstaged by an unlikely pair — her two dads. Speculation about who will play Mr. and Mr. Berry has been brewing for some time, and Michele agrees their appearance is overdue. "I really hope [they show up]!" she said. "For me, my dream of meeting Rachel's dads would just be even if she was performing on stage, taking a bow, and then she'd just waves and there they were her dads in the audience, Elton John… and… one of them is African American so I've always had trouble about thinking who that would be. But it would be a great way to just easily slip it in, but [Murphy] won't tell me when."

The third season of Glee will kick off September 20 on Fox.