"Glee" will deal with Monteith's OD in Episode 3

Beverly Hills, Calif. • "Glee" will deal directly with the drug-overdose death of Cory Monteith in the upcoming season. How, exactly, his character will be written out remains undetermined.

According to Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly, the third episode of the upcoming season will include a public service announcement with cast members — including Monteith's girlfriend, Lea Michelle — and the show's producers directly addressing the viewers about Monteith's heroin overdose death.

"That episode will deal directly with the incident involved in Cory's passing and drug abuse in particular," Reilly said. "They will speak directly to the audience and I think they will be very impactful."

The episode will also write out Monteith's character, Finn Hudson, but Reilly could not confirm how the character will exit.

The Fox exec also went out of his way to make it clear that, while Monteith had a drug problem, he was never difficult on the set and his problems were not apparent to those around him.

"Cory was a big, open, wonderful life force," Reilly said. "He was very open about it in this past, not so open about it in the present. Nobody was shocked but everybody was shocked. It was an accident; it was an accident of someone struggling with addiction. We'll be illuminating that particular kind of addiction." 

The first two episodes this fall will be filled with Beatles music and will be "really fun, celebratory episodes." Then, after the third episode, "Glee" will be on a three-week hiatus because of the World Series.