Matthew Morrison was preparing to leave 'Glee' before Cory Monteith's death.

Matthew Morrison had confirmed his exit from Glee before Cory Monteith's death

Matthew Morrison had confirmed his exit from Glee before Cory Monteith's death

The 45-year-old actor played teacher Will Schuester in the hit musical series and he has revealed he asked to be written out during season five because he was keen to branch out into movie roles, but TV bosses asked him to stay on after his co-star Cory - who played Finn Hudson - died of a drug overdose in 2013.

During an appearance on the 'And That’s What You REALLY Missed' podcast, Matthew explained: "I actually was trying to get off the show. In season five, I asked to be off the show, ’cause I was just like, I’m no longer being used in the way I wanted to.

“No disrespect to the show. We are at a high, I was like, ‘Maybe if I get off the show, I could go do something else, go do a movie,’ and they agreed to let me off the show."

Matthew added that everything changed in the aftermath of the tragedy, saying: "Cory passed, and then they said they couldn’t do it, Because you can’t have the two main guys on the show [leave]. So yeah, it was an interesting time."

He insisted he understood the decision and agreed to put his plans to one side and continue with 'Glee'. Matthew said: "I was like, ‘Yeah, I get it'

"You know, trying to reconcile my own wants and selfish needs with the grief of losing an amazing friend, you know, there’s a lot of just mixed emotions. But I’m a professional, I showed up, I did my job. And there was a good pay increase, so that worked too."

'Glee' from from 2009 until 2015 and Matthew ended up staying with the show until it finished its run with the sixth season.

Cory was just 31 when he was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver, Canada on July 13 2013 after suffering a drug overdose, and his former co-star and real life girlfriend Lea Michele marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy last year by writing him a sweet note on Instagram.

She wrote: "Hey you. 10 years. It feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time. I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten. We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all. "

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