‘Empire’ is back after a 3-month hiatus. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with showrunner Brett Mahoney about the fallout of Kingsley’s major reveal, how Damon Cross is going to re-enter the picture, and more.
Empire returns for the second half of season 5 on March 13 after a winter hiatus. HollywoodLife sat down EXCLUSIVELY with showrunner Brett Mahoney back in Feb. 2019 at the Television Critics’ Association winter press tour about what’s next for the Lyons. “The second half of the season picks up right where we left off,” Brett told HollywoodLife. “We had the big bombshell in [episode] 9 with Kingsley announcing that he’s Lucious’s son, so we pick up in episode 10 with a huge fallout from that and how Lucious handles that and the reaction of Cookie and the family.”
The aftermath of this reveal will be a defining moment in Cookie and Lucious’s marriage. “The story that he will tell is that it’s not a betrayal because he didn’t know and he’s also going to argue that it happened before Cookie, so he’s saying there’s no transgression. But still, this son of his has come back and created huge problems for Cookie and Empire. I think as we move forward in the second half of the season, it’s really a test for the Cookie and Lucious relationship and a test of their marriage.” However, he also teased that “there are a couple of more things that happen that are in many ways bigger.”
As for how the Lyon brothers will react, Brett teased: “I think Lucious sets the tone for how the family will take it. Once Lucious says that they need to think of Kingsley as another Lyon, then each of the boys has their own point of view on it. It’s not only that he’s a Lyon but also the bullsh*t that he did to them for them to get over. Andre, as the oldest prior to Kingsley, he is given an incentive to sort of reach out to Kingsley.”
Damon Cross, the mysterious man from the first half of the season, will also make a reappearance. “I think what’s different with Damon Cross is, I suppose to other people that we’ve seen come from the outside to try and take Empire, Damon is all about Cookie to some degree,” Brett revealed. “He loves her and wants to make her his and that how he is going to get involved.” Brett also confirmed that there will be no flash forwards in the second half of season 5. “Our last flash forward is in the first half and in the second half we just catch up to all the flash forwards,” Brett said. So, the person in the coffin won’t be revealed until the season 5 finale. Empire airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.
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