Harry Shum Jr On Filming Glee Without Cory Monteith

It’s been an extremely hard road for the cast and crew of Glee. Since the sudden death of cast mate Cory Monteith on July 14, many of its cast members have been vocal through different forms of social media. One of Monteith’s first cast mates to react, Harry Shum Jr. decided to sit down with People to reveal his ongoing struggle of going to work without Monteith.

Shum, Jr, who plays Mike Chang on the show, admitted that the loss continues to be a difficult one, and one that constantly weighs on the actor’s mind as they resume filming of the show.

During his interview with People, Shum, Jr said of the aftermath of Monteith’s passing:

“We’ve all been leaning on each other. It’s been a rough patch and a rough time. I don’t know when that will ever end, that rough patch of losing a friend like that. It’s so unexpected, but we’re all leaning on each other.”

Most concern amongst the fan and media has been for Cory Monteith’s on-screen and off-screen love Lea Michele. While creator Ryan Murphy called her the strongest person he knows, Shum added that she is in turmoil, and has been suffering since the news of Monteith’s overdose rocked everyone.

“Of course she’s heartbroken, everyone is. But I think it’s great that everyone is back at work and at least following through, and hopefully we can at least just get through this rough patch.”

During a brief interview with Us Weekly, it’s Jane Lynch who makes the most important point about Monteith’s death, which hasn’t really been brought up until now, is that everyone deals with grief differently.

“Everybody’s doing differently. You know, it’s tough. Everybody had a relationship with him and we all express our grief in different ways so I’ll only speak for myself. I love him and I honour (him), and every day I go to work, I walk by his trailer and I go, ‘He should be in there.'”

When the fifth season debuts the first two episodes will not address Cory Monteith’s death, but instead the third will deal with both the death of Monteith and his character, Finn Hudson.