TV News

TV’s Glee May Not Tell You How Cory Monteith’s Character Died

First details of the upcoming tribute episode to the late Monteith have been revealed.

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Lea Michele and Cory Monteith
Lea Michele and Cory Monteith
(© Tristan Fuge)
The hit FOX television series Glee will address the death of the show’s star, Cory Monteith, with a tribute episode set to air later this fall. But the circumstances surrounding the death of his character, football-player-turned-choir-singer Finn Hudson, will not be revealed.

Series creator Ryan Murphy told Deadline today, “There are a lot of things we had to decide — how are we going to deal with his death? At one point, we were going to have his character die after an accidental drug overdose… But 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… We say early on in the episode, ‘This episode is a celebration of that character’s life.'”

Ultimately, Murphy said, “we’re trying to craft an episode that’s not just about us grieving but about a lot of the young fans grieving.” The memorial episode will be shot in the coming weeks.

Monteith died on July 13 in Vancouver, Canada, following an overdose of drugs and alcohol.