Ryan Murphy wishes he had handled Cory Monteith's death differently on Glee.
The show's creator opened up about the series' emotional tribute episode to Monteith, titled "The Quarterback," on the Nov. 7 episode of And That's What You REALLY Missed, Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale's Glee podcast. During the episode, Murphy revealed that he wishes they'd taken more time in between Monteith's death and filming the series' fifth season, adding that the episode was "way too raw and way too soon."
"If I had to do it again, we would've stopped for a very long time and probably not come back," Murphy explained. "Now, if this had happened, I would be like, 'That's the end.' Because you can't really recover from something like that."
Murphy added that after Monteith died, "the spirit of joy of it left the building." Ultimately, he noted that the team decided to keep the show going to keep the crew employed.
But to keep the show going, Murphy and his team decided to make a tribute episode, which would eventually become "The Quarterback." Filming for the episode started a month after Monteith's death, and a grief counselor was available on-site—though Murphy says no one used it.
"It's an episode I was able to watch once," he shared. "And I never looked at it again."
Ushkowitz and McHale explained that each cast member was given a choice to participate in the episode, but they felt as if they had to—not only to honor their co-star, but because they didn't want to be the one cast member who said no.
"It just felt like an impossible corner we were all put in," Ushkowitz said. "There's no right or wrong."
This isn't the first bombshell that Ushkowitz and McHale have dropped on their revamped podcast. Last week in part one of Murphy's interview, the creator revealed that soulful teach Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) was originally written as a meth addict.
And That's What You REALLY Missed drops new episodes Mondays wherever you listen to podcasts.