Glee star Lea Michele has shared a touching tribute to the late Cory Monteith on the tenth anniversary of his death. Monteith played one of the musical comedy series' main characters, football quarterback Finn Hudson, in the first four seasons. Between seasons 4 and 5 on July 13, 2013, he was found dead at age 31 in a Vancouver hotel room due to a drug overdose.

Ten years later, Michele has shared a heartfelt post honoring Cory Monteith's life.

Her post features a black-and-white image of Monteith and Michele together. The attached caption says "I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten" and "we miss you every day."

How Glee Changed After Cory Monteith's Death

The Quarterback Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson in Glee Tribute Episode

Monteith held roles in quite a few prominent movie and TV titles before and during the run of Glee. This includes projects such as Stargate Atlantis, Smallville, Final Destination 3, Kyle XY, and Deck the Halls. However, Finn was by far his largest role and was one that became more or less synonymous with Glee itself thanks to his central position in the storyline and his pivotal role in bringing the glee club New Directions together in the pilot episode.

Because of this, Glee changed considerably after Monteith's death, which was recently explored in the controversial Glee documentary The Price of Glee. After honoring his life in season 5, episode 3, titled "The Quarterback," the series struggled to fill the void left by Finn's absence and ended with a shortened season 6. Although Glee boasted an enormous ensemble of talented performers, Finn's central relationship with Michele's character Rachel Berry was a key component of the show storyline and its absence altered the shape of the series considerably.

Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy recently reflected on Cory Monteith's death during an episode of the Glee rewatch podcast And That's What You REALLY Missed. He lamented their decision to keep the show going in the wake of the tragedy, saying that Glee should have ended with season 4 rather than move forward without Finn. He reflected that "the spirit and joy of it left the building."

Source: Lea Michele/Instagram