'Glee' Finale Ending Had Lea Michele & Cory Monteith in Series' Original Final Scene, Creator Ryan Murphy Says
The original ending for Glee had Cory Monteith's and Lea Michele's characters in the final scene to close off the scripted series, the show's co-creator revealed.
Ryan Murphy's revelation was first shared in a eulogy delivered at a private memorial service for the late Monteith back in July. An excerpt from his speech was printed in the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. He explained that he had the ending of Glee planned out since the series' pilot.
"For me, Cory was both the beginning and the ending of Glee... literally," he said.
"The ending of Glee is something I have never shared with anyone, but I always knew it. I've always relied on it as a source of comfort, a North Star," said Murphy, 47, who will end the show after season 6. "The very last line of dialogue was to be this: Rachel comes back to Ohio, fulfilled and yet not, and walks into Finn's glee club. 'What are you doing here?' he would ask. 'I'm home,' she would reply. Fade out. The end."
Monteith died at age 31 in July from a "mixed drug toxicity" consisting of heroin and alcohol. His memorial episode The Quarterback, which aired in October, took place a few weeks after Finn's funeral (his death is never explained on the show) and the glee club gathered to say goodbye to him in song.
Monteith's real-life girlfriend, Lea Michele, also played his high school sweetheart on the series, Rachel Berry. Addressing the memorial episode in an interview with Australian magazine TV Week, the 27-year-old actress said, "I feel like, for me personally, I've lost two people: Cory and Finn."
Murphy told reporters back in October, "I just said the whole end year of the show, which will be next year, was designed really around Rachel/Cory, Finn story. I mean I always knew that."
"I knew how that would end. I knew what the last shot was -- he was in it. I knew what the last line was -- she said it to him. So when a tragedy happens you sort of have to pause and figure out what else you want to do, so we're figuring that out now."
