Glee Season 5 Spoilers Kevin McHale on Powerful Cory Monteith Tribute

Just several days into shooting the Cory Monteith tribute titled “The Quarterback”, Glee star, Kevin McHale, describes an “extremely emotional” shoot that at times, has been “hard to get through.”

Kevin, who plays the wheelchair bound Artie, says he was blown away when he first read the script for season 5’s 3rd episode, set to air on October 10.

“There are so many incredibly well written and powerful scenes,” he told TV Line. Kevin singles out one scene as being particularly moving. “When [the cast] got the script, we were all reading it together and we were like, ‘Did you get to that one scene.’ And when you see it everyone will know what that one scene is.”

It’s a fine line to portray emotions so on the nose. While the characters grieve the death of Finn Hudson, the actors will undoubtedly be working through their own grief for Cory. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the actors mirror what their characters are experiencing.

Kevin notes that some cast members “are having to play reactions that they obviously would not feel in real-life, and that’s a weird thing to play. Because you want people to know how you actually feel. But [Ryan Murphy & Co. are staying true to] the characters, and that’s the smart thing to do.”

“Some people aren’t dealing with the loss of Finn, and it’s a difficult thing because in real life none of us were like that,” he explains. “We were all very much dealing with it.”

It sounds like a heavy, emotional atmosphere on set as the cast says goodbye to the character Finn. Romy Rosemont, who plays Finn’s mom, Carole Hudson-Hummel, tweeted poignantly last week:

Looking forward to being with @chriscolfer and Mike O’Malley today. Those are some handsome shoulders to lean on…

— Romy Rosemont (@RomyRosemont) August 28, 2013