Something popped into my head earlier today that I thought was really interesting to consider.
If any of the castmembers other than Cory Monteith had died, would the writers have still let that have the same kind of impact in-series? And, I mean, obviously not Lea or Darren or Matthew Morrison where they were or ended up being pillars of the show anyway. But like Chord or Amber Riley or Kevin McHale... would they have gotten the same treatment? Would we have gotten an episode dedicated to Artie? Would the auditorium be given Sam's name?
I feel like any of them would've gotten a tribute episode, though I imagine it would've played out much differently, but I kind of doubt the series would end on their image or with the auditorium being named after them.
I don't know, just something I started thinking about.