How Empire's Shocking Series Finale Death Was Supposed - CINEMABLEND ", Empire May Have Killed Off [Spoiler] in Shocking Season 6 Premiere. Billy Beretti is a possibility, based solely on his presence in a flash-forward that may or may not have taken place after Lucious' death. However, this finale is ultimately about Lucious and Cookie. During the defense's cross-examination of E. Jean Carroll, Trump's attorney asked the writer why she "did not scream" when she was "supposedly raped. Warning! Kelly and Giselle were able to gain the power they had over the business was due to Andre Lyons (Trai Byers) and his breakdown after his separation from wife and son. Any/all written content and images displayed are provided by the blogger/author, appear herein as submitted by the blogger/author and are unedited by Opera News. Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is hiding from the federal government who want him on money laundering charges, so he wears a Bob Marley-like wig and glasses, and has a new girlfriend. The result is the kind of performance that makes critics and Hollywood insiders take notice. Cookie and Lucious were married before Empire Entertainment was founded. The Views Sunny Hostin Shares Her Thoughts On Don Lemons Firing: It Doesn't Make Sense. Lucious Throws Young Jamal Into A Trash Can. So, it is only natural for viewers to Predict their killers, so here we go. Yes, they love each other, but is that enough? ", The episode then cuts to the film's premiere screening, with the Lyons all together and Cookie proclaiming, "It's our family's night.". [25] Jozen Cummings of The New York Post noted Cookie Lyon's similarities to real-life Sugar Hill Records co-founder Sylvia Robinson. Who knows, maybe we'll give them more. Even Yana couldn't snap and kill Cookie in a jealous rage due to her own unexpected death. While Henson usually shared the screen with big-name actors, Kelley L. Carter said Empire is "most certainly Henson's moment." "The Inside Track: The Rise of EMPIRE Part 1", "How Lee Daniels' Real-Life Experiences Helped Create Empire", "Taraji P. Henson Nabs Female Lead in Fox's Lee Daniels Hip-Hop Drama 'Empire', "Taraji P. Henson Is Finally Having Her Moment With "Empire", "The Cast and Director of 'Empire' Discuss Their New Show", "Mo'Nique Says Lee Daniels Wanted Her To Play Cookie On TV Hit 'Empire', "Taraji P. Henson on Her New Empire Character: "Oh, We're Going to Piss Off So Many People", "Taraji P. Henson as Cookie at Heart of TV's 'Empire', "Lee Daniels Builds a Soapy New Hip-Hop Empire for Fox", "Here's the Real Reason Why Taraji P. Henson Almost Turned Down Empire", "9 Fashion Staples You Need Inspired By Cookie Lyon From 'Empire', "Cookie Lyon's Empire Wardrobe Is Basically a Dream Closet of Leopard, Foxy Furs, and Tight Skirts", "Taraji P. Henson builds fashion 'Empire', "The Empire Cast on the Bib, Cookie's Style, and More at Their Very Lively Panel", "Almost 10 Million Tune in For Premiere of Fox's New Super Soap Empire", "All 38 Of Cookie's Fierce Looks In "Empire", "TV's 'Empire' arrives with much promise", "Empire: Are we ready for a black 'Dynasty'? "[24] Alyssa Rosenburg of The Washington Post said that Cookie is TV's "best new female character" of 2015. Gray) wants nothing to do with her. As an actress, because Henson is so "uninhibited," the writers tend to write her "really big." "[10] Ayanna Prescod of Vibe Magazine commented, "Cookie is fierce, caring and extremely powerful. ©2019 Fox Media LLC CR: Chuck Hodes/FOX. Who do you think kills Coocious? In typical Empire style, the series finale did this by killing her off. April 11, 2018. In anger, he takes out a gun and tries to shoot Lucious but ends up shooting his daughter. ", Mahoney says they had to leave out a few revelations regarding earlier mysteries:Who shot Lucious? Kelsey). Fast forward to now, she tried becoming Empire's C.E.hOe , but failed, thanks again to Coocious. Michael Ausiello / Theres no telling if or when Empire will ever shoot its original ending, but viewers will have to settle for the series finale that did air for now. "Never in million years did I think it would end like this," Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) pondered at the start of this week's Empire. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"fURWVvkzH7lBGR776O5hJguXZlFxdQ3WNIj4056.2yo-3600-0"}; And to give us a behind-the-scenes first look at the deeply troubled, woefully miscast Empire feature film (of which recovering fugitive Lucious has now taken control of). The launch of the Empire movie also may have meant a big shift in his career and the public perception of him. Empire has officially ended its run on Fox after six seasons with a finale that unfortunately left some major questions unanswered. The show hasn't even wrapped yet but Cookie's legacy as one of TV's most unforgettable characters has already been cemented. "It's bittersweet because she's meant so much to so many people for so long. Sound off below! Carter praised Henson's portrayal of Cookie as well as the actor's previous characters and said that "Her characters consistently feel like real people the audience actually knows, thanks to the measured way in which she portrays black women who've endured hardships." We're open to turning it upside-down and seeing what falls out in terms of what new stuff, what new twists and turns we can come up with to make it exciting. What's clear, though, is that something bad is going to happen to Cookie, and it probably has to do with her estranged husband Lucious ( Terrence Howard ), whose shocking death was also teased. [5] Knowing they would need well established actors to carry the series, executives at Fox reached out to Henson. For instance, Lucious almost died and lost his memory and he didn't snap out of . Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. However, the series finale that aired featured Yana, Lucious ex-girlfriend, and Damon Cross dying instead. Now, Empire didn't go nearly as far to confirm Cookie's death as it did Lucious after he was shot, since he looked pretty definitively dead in that particular flash-forward. So we knew that we wanted it to be a Lyon, but then as we proceeded, so many of the Lyon characters had such rich stories that we had to look at who would we could lose that would affect our storytelling going forward the least, and it seemed like that would be Kingsley. He's stuck in his ways. Do Maya and Hakeem get together? 'Empire' series finale recap: Here's what happened to the Lyon family Additionally, Hakeem used to have a thing for guns after he got shot. Bunkie Williams | Empire TV Show Wiki | Fandom Seriously? I don't know if we could have predicted that people would have cared as much as they did. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Gray), who persuades his brother to stay and try to establish a relationship with his young son, emphasizingthe finale's theme: "Family is everything. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. All Rights Reserved. Damon died, however, in what aired as the series finale after a confrontation with Lucious, who Damon had been trying to shoot when he accidentally killed Yana. However the series was intended to end, it wasn't with the confrontation between Lucious and Damon at the mansion. That's not to say that Andre will ever completely heal from his experiences or get to a point of not needing medication, since Empire showed what can go wrong if he gives up on his meds. 'Empire' Recap Lucious Arrested, Rhonda Pregnant, Jamal CEO Season While no motive has been revealed for Hakeem to kill his dad, he already has anger and resentment built up towards him, so anything could set him off. Eventually, Lucious learns that Jeff is actually Lucious' son that he had with another woman, Tracy Kingsley, before he married Cookie. Cookie could have done it, although she was back to considering Lucious the love of her life by the end of the impromptu finale. In other words, Kelly is a strong man. Brett Mahoney doesnt know the status of a potential spin-off since hes not involved, but he imagines viewers would be something people would be interested in. Let's make some noise for that happening, Empire fans. See More, Opera News is a free to use platform and the views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent, reflect or express the views of Opera News. (He said he hasan opinion on the matter, but declined to share it. If his new love finds anything out about her father and Lyons history, she may kill him out for feeling like he used her. It's his way or the highway, so she chose the highway. [CDATA[ If the content contained herein violates any of your rights, including those of copyright, and/or violates any the above mentioned factors, you are requested to immediately notify us using via the following email address operanews-external(at)opera.com and/or report the article using the available reporting functionality built into our Platform. She is "raw nerve. Cookie has her suspicions when Claudia begins to inappropriately amuse Lucious, but eventually his memory returns and he kicks Claudia out of the house, satisfying Cookie. New York, Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Was Cookie inside of the car? For these last two episodes, you had the convenient option to say that Jamal was on his honeymoon, but have you figured out how you will handle his absence come next season? While Henson's life may not have been as bad as some of her peers, "I went to school with those kids. Giddens also appreciated the character's grit and joked, "Cookie is no Claire Huxtable. Wait, Is Empire Killing Off Cookie In The Final Season Too? And if we can't do it, hopefully we can find some creative way to at least get the script out. It's the result of her ongoing therapy sessions, which have helped her deal with her conflicted feelings about Lucious. He asks Cookie to go with him, but she refuses and tells Lucious that him and Empire aren't good for her. The seasons flash-forward mystery foreshadowed Lucious getting shot and Cookies car exploding, and the originally planned series finale was supposed to resolve the mysteries surrounding their presumed deaths, such as who was targeting them, and whether or not they actually died. This time, however, she read a mysterious note that enraged her. In the season 5 premiere, Empire unveiled a flash-forward structure that featured Lucious standing over a mysterious coffin. See 28 Of Taylor Swift's Stunning Eras Tour Outfits, Yellowjackets' Non-Binary Star Calls Out Emmys For Sticking With Gendered Categories, Pulls Out Of Award Contention, Steven Spielberg Admits Censoring E.T. Empire has never shied away from killing off major characters who aren't core members of the Lyon family in grand fashion -- remember Boo Boo Kitty's (Grace Byers) tumble over a balcony in Season 4? Yellowstone's Kelly Reilly Offers Explanation For Her PaleyFest Absence, American Idol's Top 10 Revealed Live, Following Pair of Brutal Eliminations, Morning Show Renewed for Season 4 Plus, Find Out When Season 3 Will Air, Time100: The World's Most Influential People, Felicity Dj Vu on The Diplomat? Why Are Taylor Swifts Fans Exchanging Friendship Bracelets At The Eras Tour? Who wrote the note, and what did the note say to alarm her? She climbed into her car, found a note, and then was seemingly blown up in her car. He plans to leave for a church mission in South America and Cookie can't persuade him to stay. Gizelle has a lot to fight for as Cookie and Lucious has virtually ruined her life and career. Spoiler alert: This story contains major details from Tuesday's series finale of "Empire.". But appearances on Empire which has a long history of playing bait-and-switch with viewers can be deceiving (see also: Andres terminal cancer diagnosis that wasnt and last seasons anti-climactic coffin reveal). Its high drama, I get to dress up and wear things I cant afford or that I just wouldnt buy because Im cheap. There is already a death, possibly two in the premiere episode of the final season when Andres prison friend Mouse visits him looking to collect on a debt. Cookie helped found Empire financially with $400,000 worth of drug money. I've always been kind of like that, but she reminds us that you're free if you come from up under the shadows of your fear. Throughout the episode, Cookie examines her evolutionover the years,and her history with Lucious isunderlined with flashbacks, both passionate and violent, from earlier episodes and scenes depicting younger versions of their characters. This causes Lucious to act first and break into Damon's home. Damon died, however, in what aired as the series finale after a confrontation with Lucious, who Damon had been trying to shoot when he accidentally killed Yana. She wants some respect, but it isn't coming her way, and she is under the influence of drugs which makes her highly unstable. [2] Cookie is devastated when her cousin Bunkie is discovered murdered. Eldest son Andre (Trai Byers), whose personalcrisis led to the slip that allowed Kelly and Giselle take over, is out of the hospital but still bereft over his separation from his wife and son. Tracy was shot in the midseason premiere before she could shoot Cookie. Harrison Ford Believes 'This Is Indiana Jones Last Ever, Damar Hamlin's Charity Sponsor, the Giving Back Fund, Embroiled, Even Without Barry, 'Barry' Is Delighted with Its Own Misery, Malaysia's 'Abang Adik' Wins Udine Festival's Golden Mulberry, Editor's Choice: I Purchased This TikTok-Viral Walking Pad and I, TVLine is a part of Penske Media Corporation. BRETT MAHONEY: This season, with the whole idea of the coffin, we wanted some aspect of mortality to touch the Lyons. EMPIRE: Taraji P. Henson in the "My Fate Cries Out" episode of EMPIRE airing Wednesday, May 1 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Before the film starts, Hakeem performs a rap celebrating the family's position at the top, mentioning various family members as flashbacks play. 's LaRoyce Hawkins Talks The 'Great Relief' Of Finally Being Renewed For Season 11. Gross! So then you don't think the damage is irreparable? As of the end of what served as the series finale, he was still reaping the benefits of his sham (or increasingly not-so-sham) marriage to Maya, but he never seemed to get closure with Tiana.