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The clock is ticking down on Lucious and Cookie. Fox’s hit show is set to be cancelled after its’ sixth season.
Deadline is reporting that Empire will be closing up shop next year. Earlier this week network executives confirmed the rumors regarding the musically inspired drama. “We are turning the final season into a large TV event — we are trying to go out guns a-blazing. You allow fans to lean in and have the ending they deserve” explained Charlie Collier.
While the show has seen a decline in both viewership and popularity the series regained some relevance earlier this year for all the wrong reasons. In January Jussie Smollet, who plays the role of Jamal Lyon, claimed he was attacked outside of his apartment complex by two men wearing ski masks and using racial slurs. Naturally the story caught fire in the media but the facts did not add up to the local police. He was eventually charged with filing a false police report but was found not guilty.
When asked about Smollet’s future with the show Collier simply responded “There’s an option to have Jussie in the series but we have no plans for that”. In April Executive Producer Lee Daniels briefly discussed the actor’s ordeal during a visit to The Breakfast Club. While he admits the drama did negatively affect the show he is “standing by him because regardless of the outcome I can’t discard someone, it’s like discarding my son.”
Empire’s sixth and final season will set to return this fall.
Photo: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com