Glee stars recall returning to work after Cory Monteith's death and throwing a 'rager' to decompress

Glee alumni Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz are reflecting on a difficult period in their McKinley High journey: returning for the show’s fifth season after the death of costar, Cory Monteith.

Per the latest episode of their rewatch podcast, And That’s What You Really Missed, the stars have arrived at the first episode of the fifth season, which was filmed in the aftermath of Monteith’s July 2013 death at 31. McHale and Ushkowitz shared that when the cast reconvened for the Beatles-centric episode “Love, Love, Love,” they were still working through the loss.

“We were all very much in the early stages of grieving,” McHale said. “And then we're back in the same places that we had spent so much time with Cory.”

Ushkowitz admitted that while revisiting the episode, she realized that she didn’t remember filming it at all. McHale pointed out that given the traumatic circumstances, the gaps in her memory make sense. 

“You have this, like, really horrible thing that has happened in real life, and then all of a sudden you have to go back to, like, ‘We're gonna sing some songs and be concerned about our high school relationships,’” he said. “Instinct kicked in, and we were just sort of on autopilot.”

At one point, when the cast and crew realized how badly they needed to decompress, they came together for a “staycation” and rented a “dusty” house in Hollywood Hills

“We basically had a rager for like 2 days,” McHale shared.

“We had a party where people who didn't get rooms came and partied anyway,” Ushkowitz added. “We called it the ‘Castle in the Sky’ because it was so weird.”

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While revisiting the episode, McHale and Ushkowitz also shared that they were particularly impressed by the performance of Lea Michele, who had been dating Monteith for over a year at the time of his death.

“I cannot imagine,” McHale said. “I do not know how she did any of this. She's still the main character in this show and is very much the main character in this episode.”

Ushkowitz agreed, “I'm shocked by that, and that's why it felt so unreal to me. I was like, ‘there's no way,’ but there is a way. It was very strange. Lea is very much leading the A storylines of this and still in the same world and without Cory. It's so crazy.”

McHale went on to praise the actress’ “strength,” adding that she managed to “keep powering through and bringing that stories as Rachel.”

Monteith, who spent four seasons as good-natured jock Finn Hudson, died from a drug overdose on July 13, 2013. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy previously appeared on the podcast and expressed some regret for the decision to continue the show so soon.

"If I had to do it again, we would've stopped for a very long time and probably not come back," he said. "I would be like, 'That's the end' … Because you can't really recover from something like that."

You can listen to the full podcast episode above.