Speaking as part of an Emmy Q&A with Deadline, “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy confirmed that central character Finn Hudson’s death will not be attributed to a drug overdose.
Given talk that an upcoming “Glee” episode will “deal directly” with Cory Monteith’s accidental death, which was attributed to a toxic combination of alcohol and heroin, some media outlets speculated that drugs would also bring the demise of his character.
There was at least something to that speculation.
“At one point, we were going to have his character die after an accidental drug overdose — that was something we had considered,” says Murphy. “But we have decided that we’re not going to have him pass from that.
Finn Hudson, who Monteith portrayed for four seasons, will be written out of “Glee” in the third episode of the upcoming season. Insofar as the episode will serve as a memorial to and celebration of both the character and the actor who played him, the cause of death, though not drugs, will not be a huge focus anyway.
“What we’re doing in the episode is we are not telling you yet, or maybe not at all, how that character died,” adds Murphy. “The idea being, 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.'”
Murphy adds that any other approach would have been exploitative.
