Ryan Murphy Talks What's Next for GLEE: 'We Keep Mentioning Finn'

After GLEE's emotional tribute to Cory Monteith and Finn Hudson in "The Quarterback" episode that aired this evening, creator Ryan Murphy spoke with E! about what's next for the show and spent some time reflecting on the tribute and Finn's continuing presence at McKinley High and beyond.

"We wrote it because we loved Cory," Murphy told E! "So the episode is about how all the people loved Cory and find it really hard to Go On with the show so to speak, but that's the whole point of this show."

Murphy also revealed his emotions while prepping the story to air tonight: "I edited it and I could only sit through it twice -- it was hard."

When asked what this means for Glee as the show continues, Murphy said, "I don't know. I mean, we're picked up through season six and we had to sort of get back on the horse. After episode three, we wrote four more, so we're up to show seven now."

"I just made a decision that we keep mentioning Finn. We don't just say this is done and we're never going to go back to it, so that resonates throughout the year," he added.

In tonight's special episode, the McKinley High family, present and past, joined together to remember and celebrate the life of Finn Hudson.

Among the tunes featured were Naya Rivera's "If I Die Young", Lea Michele's "Make You Feel My Love," written and recorded by Bob Dylanin 1997 and later by Adele, "Seasons Of Love" ("Rent") performed by the full cast, "I'll Stand By You" (The Pretenders) performed by Amber Riley's Mercedes, "Fire & Rain" (James Taylor) performed by Chord Overstreet's Sam and Kevin McHale's Artie and "No Surrender" (Bruce Springsteen) performed by Mark Salling's Puck.

Monteith, a native of Calgary, Canada died on Saturday July 13th in Vancouver from an accidental drug overdose.