Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz say Naya Rivera's death led to end of original Glee podcast

The show can't always go on.

Glee alums Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz have revealed that the untimely death of castmate Naya Rivera prompted them to end their rewatch podcast Showmance back in 2020.

The two actors, who are reuniting for a new podcast titled And That's What You Really Missed, opened up about how they started Showmance and why they stepped away in an interview with PEOPLE published Wednesday. "Jenna and I initially had started a podcast that was just about co-workers who became best friends, and we met a lot of interesting people like that," McHale said. "But we quickly realized people just wanted to know about Glee. It was at the very beginning of the [rise of] rewatch podcasts."

He continued, "We started doing it, but it wasn't necessarily a well-thought-out, well-intentioned, well-researched take on it. We were just like, 'Let's just do it.' And then after Naya's passing, we decided we don't want to do this anymore."

Once Rivera died, Ushkowitz said, "there was a reckoning of sorts for all of us in many, many ways."

Bennett Raglin/WireImage Naya Rivera, Kevin McHale, and Jenna Ushkowitz

McHale and Ushkowitz played Artie Abrams and Tina Cohen-Chang on the Fox musical dramedy, which ran from 2009 to 2015. Rivera played the tough-as-nails cheerleader Santana Lopez.

Rivera died in a drowning accident in California's Lake Piru in July 2020; she was 33. Her body was recovered after a weeklong search that was conducted when she failed to return from a boating excursion with her young son Josey, who was found safe and sound. Rivera's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ventura County and Lake Piru management and reached a settlement earlier this year.

A month after Rivera's death, McHale announced on Twitter that Showmance would be going on hiatus once its pre-recorded episodes were posted. The final episode went up a week later.

After some "long conversations," McHale told PEOPLE, he and Ushkowitz agreed to reteam for And That's What You Really Missed. There will be more tough moments to revisit, though, such as the death of another Glee alum, Cory Monteith, who overdosed in 2013 at 31.

"I don't know how we're going to handle that one, honestly," Ushkowitz said. "We're going to have to just see what happens."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Watch the Glee cast reunite and pay tribute to Naya Rivera

• Glee creator Ryan Murphy reveals Mr. Schue was written for Justin Timberlake — and as a crystal meth addict

• Secret Celebrity Drag Race queen Kevin McHale says Glee costar Lea Michele would kill the reading challenge