coryandleaonglee_460.jpgFOX

After much speculation, Glee creator Ryan Murphy has just announced that Cory Monteith's character Finn Hudson will not die as a result of a drug overdose. On July 13th, Monteith was found dead in his hotel room in Canada as a result of a mix of alcohol and heroin. His shocking death devastated family, friends and fans and sent TV execs scrambling to figure out how to address the loss of the star of the hit FOX show.

"There were a lot of things that we had to decide [for the memorial episode]," Murphy explained. "At one point, we were going to have his character die after an accidental drug overdose -- that was something we had considered. But we have decided that we're not going to have him pass from that."

While many believed Finn's exit would surround drugs or substance abuse, Murphy told Deadline that the show might never reveal cause of Finn's death. The former Nip/Tuck creator said that he wants the show to memorialize life rather than be a lament of death, saying it should be, "celebration of that character's life. …. That might be weird for some people, but it felt really exploitative to do it any other way."

The cast and crew came back to work earlier this month. On Aug. 6, Lea Michele posted a solemn photo from the set on Twitter with the caption, "Feels so good to be home... ‪#GleeSeason5‬."

Murphy has said that it has been good for the cast and crew to be back together but that it has been rough. "The cast and crew have had solace in being together," he says. "There's been tears on set. It's been hard for a lot of people. But the really difficult thing is coming. We start shooting the memorial episode this week. We're just now finishing it, and at the end of the week we'll send it to [the studio 20th Century Fox Television] to get their approvals. … I think it turned out to be a lovely tribute, and it's a very heartfelt look at how young people grieve.

The Emmy-winning director also said after they finish shooting the tribute episode, the show will take a break. "We're going to take two weeks or three weeks down to get our heads together because it's been a really hard thing to write. We loved Cory and we loved Finn and it feels like a huge loss and a huge heartache not to have either of them around."

Our hearts go out to the cast and crew of Glee.