The two-hour Glee series finale that aired on March 20 was an emotional goodbye not only to the groundbreaking Fox musical dramedy, but to late star Cory Monteith.
But that’s not the only tribute to the actor, who played football star-turned-glee club member Finn Hudson, throughout the show’s six seasons. In addition to an episode dedicated entirely to the Canadian, who died of a drug overdose in July of 2013 at just 31 years old.
Us Weekly has an exclusive sneak peek of one of the special features on the final season DVD set, available May 19, in which Monteith’s costars discuss his impact on the show and on the fans.
“I feel like Cory’s still here with us,” Vanessa Lengies (aka Sugar Motta) says. “He singlehandedly changed the lives of so many people.”
The two-hour episode that closed the series flashed back to the premiere and forward to all the characters’ futures, with special mentions of Finn throughout.
“We wanted to fit Finn and Cory in that last episode,” says co-creator Brad Falchuk. “If anybody made that glee club happen, it was him.”
Adds costar Mike O’Malley, who played Monteith’s stepfather Burt Hummel, “Cory was a great guy and he was the quarterback of the show. He was a leader on the show, onstage and off, and he’s still missed.”
Watch the clip above. Other special features on the final season Glee DVD include a music jukebox, the aforementioned featurette, and a video yearbook. The complete series boxed set also hits stores May 19, and includes more than five hours of extras, including full-length auditions and a celebration of the first 100 episodes of the series.