Lucious, Cookie Lyon and the whole Empire gang are set to make their return on Fox with the midseason premiere on Wednesday night.
The hip-hop series is expected to pick up right where it left off with Lucious (Terrance Howard) and Cookie (Taraji. P. Henson) vying to regain their stake in the record business, their oldest son Andre (Trai Byers) quite possibly on his deathbed while their middle son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) faces relationship woes with fiancé Kai (Toby Onwumere). The entire Lyon family will likely still be reeling from Kingsley's (A.Z. Kelsey) announcement that he is, in fact, Lucious's son. Meanwhile, the youngest Lyon, Hakeem (Bryshere Grey) is still, well, being Hakeem.
While many details about the final nine episodes of the season have yet to be released, the network has noted Smollett's role will be cut from the last two episodes of the season following the actor's ongoing legal battle. Smollett was charged with falsifying a police report, stemming from his alleged January assault.
In typical Empire fashion, the Season 5 winter premiere is expected to be filled with twists, turns and surprises, and fans will be able to watch it all unfold when it airs on Fox at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Folks hoping to live stream the new episode, unfortunately, won't be able to as Fox has no plans of live streaming any of the network's primetime premieres.
Viewers hoping to catch the episode on a smart device will only be able to do so after Empire airs when the episode is uploaded onto Fox's streaming app, FOX Now. Users can log onto the app using a TV, computer, smartphone or game console for free, however, only for a temporary 12-hour timeframe. When the free pass expires, users will need a cable login to access any Fox streams.
Meanwhile, Hulu Plus subscribers will also be able to access Empire's Season 5 winter premiere episode on the streaming device via on-demand Thursday. However, those with standard Hulu subscriptions will only have access to Empire Season 1, which is currently streaming on the network.
We're back, baby!#Empire returns TONIGHT at 8/7c on @FOXTV. pic.twitter.com/fVO5PEUez8
— Empire (@EmpireFOX) March 13, 2019
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