Empire's sixth season will be its last. Fox Entertainment's Charlie Collier announced the full 2019-20 television schedule along with the final season of the "groundbreaking cultural phenomenon" during the network's upfront on Monday, according to Deadline.
"We are turning the final season into a large TV event; we are trying to go out guns a-blazing," Collier said, adding the final 20-episodes of the series will "allow fans to lean in and have the ending they deserve."
The final round of the musical series is slated to be filled with "drama, shocking surprises and more jaw-dropping moments" as fans prepare to say their goodbyes to the Lyon family, including patriarch and Empire Records owner Lucious Lyon—played by Terrance Howard—and Taraji P. Henson's Cookie Lyon. "As the series enters its final season, one thing is for sure, the Lyons never go out without a bang," the network said in a statement.
However, it's still unclear if one Lyon will be featured in that last bang: Jussie Smollett's character, Jamal Lyon.
At the press event, Collier rehashed the network's previous comments on the actor's future with the series. "There's an option to have Jussie in the series, but we have no plans for that," he said, noting the series' writers had yet to start working on the Season 6 script.
Fox confirmed in a statement last week the studio had "negotiated an extension to Smollett's option for Season 6, but there are no plans for the character of Jamal to return."
Jamal was missing in action in the last two episodes of Season 5. The character's final moments on the season included his wedding with Kai (Toby Onwumere). It's unclear if showrunners will let the character remain absent (being that Jamal was last seen taking off for his honeymoon) or if his character will be killed off in some fashion.
Smollet stopped filming ahead of the final two episodes of Season 5 after he was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct in March. The charges came following the Chicago Police Department's suspicion of Smollett lying about his role in his assault, which occurred in January.
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