Cory Monteith 'Glee' Tribute Will "Deal Directly" With "Drug Use"

Glee executives have announced plans for a special Glee episode dedicated to the late Cory Monteith which will deal with "drug use". Fox entertainment chairman, Kevin Reilly announced the plans yesterday (1st August) whilst the Glee cast and crew returned to the set.

Cory Monteith at The PaleyFest Icon Awards held in L.A. in February 2013.

Monteith was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room on July 13th of a heroin and alcohol overdose. This tragedy has left Glee's cast and crew pondering on the direction of the show. Ryan Murphy, the show's creator, helped by Monteith's girlfriend and co-star Lea Michele decided early on that the show will go on. In an interview he explained that Michele "felt that the best thing for the cast and crew was to be together and to get back to work and be together every day and talk about our memories of him."

This is exactly what the cast and crew of Glee is doing as a tribute to the late actor and his character Finn has been scheduled for October. The tribute will take place in the third episode and will deal with Monteith's death - although spokespeople for the musical-comedy series have not said how they will deal with the departure of Finn.

Cory Monteith and Lea Michele at the 2012 VHI Do Something Awards, L.A.

Reilly has said the tribute episode will "deal directly with the incidents involved in Cory's passing and the drug use in particular." It is unknown if Finn's character will die of a drug overdose. 

The show's first two episodes are a tribute to The Beatles and will contain no mention of Finn. The third episode, dedicated to Monteith, is likely to contain footage from over the five seasons of Glee in which the actor appeared. Meanwhile, those involved in Glee have returned to the set in order to continue filming season five. Lea Michele too has returned and tweeted that she was preparing, with costumes, to get back into her role as Rachel Berry.

Glee will premiere on 26th September and the Monteith tribute is scheduled for 10th October. 

Cory Monteith at 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.