Fans of Fox's hit musical comedy were shocked and saddened to learn of the death of actor Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson) earlier this month. Monteith's sudden and tragic death due to a heroin overdose caused many to wonder what would happen to the show without one of its key characters.
Now after the network announced that it would delay production and the premiere date, showrunner Ryan Murphy opened up about the actor's death and how it's affecting his "Glee" family. Murphy sat down with TVLine and explained why the network chose to only delay for a week and how the actors of the show, particularly Monteith's on-screen and off-screen girlfriend Lea Michele, have been coping.
"Well, it's such uncharted water for me, personally. We had several options. We could delay shooting until November, we could delay shooting until January. But, ultimately, what we decided to do for the cast and crew was start shooting with something that we had already written," Murphy said. He said that no decision was made without consulting Michelle.
The show's co-creator added, "Lea is obviously very grief-stricken but she's also one of the strongest people I know. She wants people to be better and get back to work. So that's what we're going to do."
As for how the show will deal with the actor's (and his character's) dead, Murphy said the cast will shoot two Beatles episodes before tackling a tribute episode for Monteith. The show will then head to a brief hiatus before resuming later in the winter.
"We're going to take a long writers' hiatus after that episode to refigure the season and continue to take care of the cast and crew and work on setting things up in Cory's honor - scholarships, what have you - because that's something we're dedicated to doing," Murphy said. "It's just a crazy, really difficult, very emotional time. I think what we're really trying to do is deal with it as a family, which is what that group of people is."
The comedy show was slated to begin production late July, with a September 19 premiere date, but was pushed back a week in the wake of Monteith's sudden death last week.
"Glee" season 5 will return on Thursday, September 26 at 9 p.m. on Fox.