Glee creator Ryan Murphy has revealed exactly how they plan to honor Cory Monteith/Finn Hudson in the special tribute episode airing this October.
Speaking to Dateline as he promoted his television show’s Emmy prospects, Murphy admitted that at one point they were considering having Finn die from an “accidental drug overdose.”
They’ve since changed their mind. “We have decided that we’re not going to have him pass from that. Basically, what we’re doing in the episode is we are not telling you yet, or maybe not at all, how that character died. The idea being, how somebody died is interesting and maybe morbid, but we say very early on in the episode, ‘This episode is about a celebration of that character’s life.’ That might be weird for some people, but it felt really exploitative to do it any other way.”
Related: Lea Michele tearfully thanks fans for support at Teen Choice Awards.
Murphy revealed that the tribute episode will begin shooting in just a few days. “There’s been tears on set [while shooting The Beatles episodes]. It’s been hard for a lot of people. But the really difficult thing is coming. We start shooting the memorial episode this week. We’re just now finishing it, and at the end of the week we’ll send it to [the studio 20th Century Fox Television] to get their approvals.”
He added that he was happy with how the tribute episode has turned out on paper. “I think it turned out to be a lovely tribute, and it’s a very heartfelt look at how young people grieve. After that, we’re going to take two weeks or three weeks down to get our heads together because it’s been a really hard thing to write.”
Glee season 5 premieres on September 26 on Fox with two Beatles tribute episodes. Episode 3, to be broadcast in early October, will be the aforementioned Cory/Finn tribute.
Do you think ‘Glee’ is handling Cory Monteith’s death the right way?
Monteith died of an overdose in a Canadian hotel room in mid-July.
Thanks, Deadline.