'Glee' Season 5 Spoilers: Change of Plans For Finn's Celebration Of Life Episode, No Drug Overdose [VIDEO]
Glee creator Ryan Murphy revealed details about how the show will address Finn Hudson's (Cory Monteith) storyline in season 5.
Murphy told Deadline on Thursday that the producers are deliberating how they can script Hudson's exit from the show.
"At one point, we were going to have [Monteith's] character die after an accidental drug overdose - that was something we had considered."
Monteith passed from a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol on July 13 at the age of 31, but the producers decided they didn't want art imitate life in that regard.
"We have decided that we're not going to have him pass from that," Murphy said. "Basically, what we're doing in the episode is we are not telling you yet, or maybe not at all, how that character died."
Finn was last featured in season 4, episode 19, in which he led the New Directions Glee club to Regionals. Monteith was forced to take the rest of the season off due to a stint in rehab.
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Murphy explained that the episode would not exploit Monteith's death; instead, the producers planned to give Finn a proper sendoff.
"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," Murphy concluded.
Finn's farewell will take place in episode 3 of season 5, and then the show will take an indefinite hiatus. Murphy said the show will need a two or three-week break after Finn's episode to properly grieve and move onward.
Season 5 of Glee will premiere Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Watch the promo for season 5 here: