On Oct. 21, 2026, a “Glee” reboot was announced by Disney+ and Hulu. I was an avid fan of the original “Glee” series, so the news of a reboot was exciting to hear about. The original show was quite skilled at putting a unique spin on different tropes. One of those twisted tropes happens to be the cheerleading squad called “the Cheerios” (no relation to the cereal). Although a handful of members of the titular “glee club” became cheerleaders over the course of the show, three of them were consistently depicted in uniform and triangle formation.
The triangle formation of three women with a leader in the front and two cronies behind her is a visual shorthand for denoting evil. Generally, with the rule of three, the first two instances build tension and the third is the payoff. When a trio consists of only women, that dramatic tension seems to translate into antagonistic tension. The three women become an obstacle to the protagonist.
The three prominent cheerleaders of “Glee” — Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez and Brittany S. Pierce — have been dubbed the “unholy trinity” as an explicit example of this rule. A tweet originally linking the unholy trinity with the rule of three reads: “read an article that said the mean girls trio trope came all the way from the witches in Macbeth and is so funny to think that Shakespeare might be partially responsible for this [image of the unholy trinity].” Early on in the show, Quinn knowingly misleads a fellow student/protagonist into believing that her child is his. Santana bullies other students and exemplifies the mean lesbian archetype. Brittany cheats on her then-boyfriend with Santana and is ditz-ily happy to follow in her schemes. They are very clearly called the “unholy trinity” for a reason.
The idea that evil women come in threes is a common trope. It comes from the Weird Sisters of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. They predict his demise and convince him to kill his superiors based on their prophecy. They are a vehicle for negative change in the protagonist. This trio of evil women trend has continued into modern media. The Cheerios of “Glee.” The Heathers. The Plastics of “Mean Girls.” After engaging with the (typically female) protagonist, their groups fall apart. The strict sense of hierarchy between them is broken by the inclusion of a fourth member. What makes the unholy trinity special is that their relationship changes for the better when they join the glee club. Santana and Brittany end up married and remain close friends with Quinn. They all have their happily ever after.
While the character arcs of the unholy trinity may be uniquely positive, they have deep roots in previous stories of three evil women. Those women were not typically afforded a redemption arc, unless they disbanded from their group of three and disavowed that sense of hierarchy. In “Glee”, the unholy trinity gets to keep their relationships by changing for the better. Other trios of fictional women often did not experience that same fate.
Speaking of fate, the original three evil women trope (the Weird Sisters) stems from the Fates of Greek mythology. Those three women are said to have threads representing everyone’s lifespans. They weave the stories that make up a person’s life. Clotho spins, Lachesis measures and Atropos cuts the thread. Past, Present and Future. They are often depicted as cruel and uncaring witches, or as a neutral third party that controls our lives.
In his popular representation of the Fates, Shakespeare names the characters as “first,” “second” and “third” witch. This renaming very clearly has negative connotations. The three witches laugh at Macbeth’s misfortune. They convene with the triple Goddess Hecate (also of the Greek pantheon) to discuss his demise. They are the original three “evil” women. They no longer have the neutrality afforded to Goddesses.
This depiction of the Fates as three uncaring narrators has weathered the test of time. More recent media has continued the trend of highlighting their callousness as their main quality. In the 2006 Broadway musical “Hadestown,” the Fates are more active agents that bully the deuteragonist. They steal her bag and her coat, leaving her unprotected from the chill of winter. They surround and torment her when the chips are down. This characterization of the Fates comes from a long tradition of unfavorable traits being pinned onto trios of women.
While they are a modern depiction of a trio of women, the Fates of “Hadestown” suffer from a lack of character arc. They are Goddesses. They are meant to be more omnipresent than the protagonists of the musical. But the only real character traits we see from them are catty and cruel. They are a classic example of the evil women trio, and a continuation of Shakespeare’s adaptation of the Fates as unkind.
Circling back to “Glee,” I am hopeful that the show will continue giving redemption arcs to different characters in the reboot. The unholy trinity certainly did not suffer the same fate as depictions of the Fates in their lack of depth. To be fair, their redemption only happened because they were fleshed-out characters and a part of the main cast. The medium of the show also allowed for more time to explore their interpersonal relationships. More screen time means more room for depth and nuance. And although they started as just a trope, the unholy trinity of “Glee” has deviated from said trope enough to make for quite an interesting story. I will definitely be tuning in to the Glee-boot to see more stories and twisted tropes.