Glee creator believes the all-singing and dancing show should’ve wrapped up after Cory Monteith’s death.
The Fox hit followed a high school glee club as they navigated popularity and romance alongside their ambitions to win at regionals, and starred Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison, as well as featuring guest appearances from stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris and .
Monteith was one of the lead stars on the popular programme, playing star quarterback turned singer Finn Hudson on the show, and in real life, he was dating Lea (Rachel Berry).
However, behind the scenes, the late star struggled with drug use from the age of 13, and devastatingly, on July 13 2013, he was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver.
The 31-year-old’s cause of death was listed as ‘mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol’, and his death appeared to be accidental. His rehab treatment and his attempt to stay off drugs had resulted in his lowered tolerance towards drugs.
At the time, Glee was in its fifth season and following the news, a tribute episode titled The Quarterback aired in October 2013.
However, creator Ryan believes that episode should have ended soon after.
Appearing on the Glee recap podcast , hosted by OG cast members Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams) and Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang) he said: ‘I just would not have done it. I felt like it was way too raw and way too soon.
‘It’s an episode I was able to watch once and never looked at it again. I probably think that it was not right.’
He added: ‘Now, if this had happened, I would be like, “that’s the end,” because you can’t really recover from something like that. It wasn’t a normal death where someone is sick, and you can see them. It happened so quickly with no warning.’
Glee ended up running for six seasons between 2009-2015, but has also been at the centre of the so-called ‘Glee curse’ after the death of three of its former stars.
A documentary on the teen singing drama is currently in the works and is also set to address controversies including the alleged bullying by Lea towards some of her co-stars.
The Funny Girl star apologised for her behaviour in a statement in 2020, saying she was sorry for ‘any pain which I have caused’.
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