'Glee' Premiere Pushed Back 2 Weeks In Wake Of Cory Monteith’s Death

Glee’s season five premiere will air two weeks later than was originally scheduled due to series star Cory Monteith’s sudden death on July 13 at the age of 31. Glee producers and Fox have decided to push back production from late July to early August.

Glee will now premiere Sept. 26 instead of Sept. 13. Producers have been sitting down to figure out how to phase out Monteith’s character Finn Hudson, the jock turned glee club leader who was going back to school to become a teacher. The producers also want to give the cast and crew additional time to grieve Monteith’s death, especially his on and off screen love Lea Michele.

Earlier in the week it was reported that Glee was moving forward with the casting of two new characters for the upcoming season. The casting calls had gone out the week prior to Monteith’s passing. They’re for a “cute and quirky” twentysomething named Jenny and an African American actor to play a high school student who’ll join the McKinley High glee club.

Monteith was discovered dead in a Vancouver hotel room last week. It was ruled an accidental overdose on heroin and alcohol. His family held a private viewing this week, which Michele attended, before he was cremated.

"Everyone is in shock," a Glee source told E!. "To say that Cory was much loved on the Glee set doesn't even begin to do him justice."

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