Glee showrunner Ryan Murphy has
said that the cast of Glee will hold a memorial for Cory
Monteith, who died last week from an overdose of heroin and alcohol
at the age of 31.
In comments to Deadline
Hollywood, Murphy described how the show would deal with
Monteith's death.
“We will begin shooting in late
August the two shows we had already written, so that people can
physically go back to work,” Murphy said. “We will then do an
episode that will deal with the death of Finn's character and follow
that with a long hiatus. I don't know exactly when we will come
back, and we are trying our best with this attempt at damage
control.”
“We are planning a memorial for the
cast and crew sometime this week on the Paramount lot,” he added.
Murphy added that the decision of when
to return to work was made collectively by the cast and crew,
specifically Lea Michele, Monteith's longtime girlfriend and co-star.
“Every possible option was explored,
and what we did was look to the people who loved Cory, who worked
with him most, and specifically Lea. This is what they wanted to
do,” he said.
Murphy added that he was “very
invested” in Monteith's sobriety.
“When I heard what was happening to
him, I organized an intervention and got him into rehab last March. …
[H]e felt like an older son to me.”