Here's what happened to Joe Hart (Samuel Larsen) on Glee. Premiering in 2009, Fox's musical comedy-drama was an instant hit to both viewers and critics. Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the series focused on William McKinley High School's struggling glee club and how Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), originally a Spanish teacher who spearheads the organization, tried to turn things around. While students were originally hesitant to join it, worried that their involvement may have a negative on their social status, people started joining the team including Joe.
Introduced a bit late into the show, Joe was a transfer to William McKinley in Glee's third season, debuting in episode 3 titled "Heart." As a devoted Christian, Joe initially joined the "God Squad" club, whose members, coincidentally, were also members of glee in Mercedes (Amber Riley), Sam (Chord Overstreet), and Quinn (Diana Agron). However, boarding the musical organization wasn't a straightforward one. After Quinn got into a car accident that forced her into a wheelchair for a while, Joe provided emotional and spiritual support. In turn, she invited him to join glee and was accepted by Will and the whole gang.
While Joe never became a main player in Glee like Finn (Cory Monteith), Kurt (Chris Colfer), Rachel (Lea Michelle), or even Quinn, he became a significant part of the team. He stood out thanks to his signature dreadlocks and easy demeanor. So, it was quite noticeable when he quietly stopped appearing in the series. So, where did he go and why did he leave the musical show?
Joe's final appearance in Glee was in season 4, episode 22 titled "All or Nothing" which chronicled that year's Regionals happening at McKinley High. At this point, he hadn't appeared regularly in the show, and was only really back for the performance. Glee attempted to explain his absence by having Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) subtly say in season 5 that some glee club members go on a leave of absence for weeks only to return. What's interesting is, despite this, Joe still graduated high school later which happened off-screen. This effectively wrote him out of the show without so much of a proper goodbye from the glee club or his closer friends. After filming Glee season 4, Larsen cut his signature dreadlocks which was indicative that he's not set to return in season 5. This turned out to be the case as Joe didn't return to McKinley High until season 6, episode 10 titled "The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester" when he's supposedly already an alumnus. It's explained that Sue, apparently, forced Joe to cut his hair, which was a nifty explanation to his hairdo change.
It's worth noting that while Joe Hart's exit from Glee was less than ideal, the character actually stayed longer than he was supposed to in the series. Larsen was one of the two winners of The Glee Project's first season — a competition that functioned as a televised audition for the Fox musical. Part of the budding actor's prize was a seven-episode arc on Glee and he exceeded that quota. Unfortunately, the show failed to give him a proper personal story that would draw people in. This is the reason why he never resonated with a lot of fans, resulting in his inevitable exit from the series.