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Empire

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Season 6 e.tv (*194) 22:00 Drama

We pick up six months after the end of season 5 of drama series Empire (20152020) when controllin­g rapper businessma­n Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard, Arnold in sci-fi series Wayward Pines, 2015-2016) was wrongfully arrested for tax fraud. He begged his businesspa­rtner wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P Henson, Ali in comedy movie What Men Want, 2019) to go into hiding with him while he cleared his name, but instead, she arrived at the airport to end their love.

“By confessing that she cheated with his rival Damien (Wood Harris, Tony in sports drama film Creed, 2015), she is breaking the cycle,” says Taraji. “Cookie longs to carve her own path, which leads to her accepting a job co-hosting a daytime TV show. She’s on a mission to spread her wings and it doesn’t include answering to any man,” adds the 50-year-old.

As with the previous seasons, there are special celeb cameos by musicians like Arkeisha Knight (pop album Stacked, 2019) in episode 16, and surprises like Lucious as a reggae artist. But the biggest surprise is the abrupt ending… read on if you don’t mind spoilers: a fast-forward scene in episode 1 shows Cookie dying in the finale, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused Empire to shut down early and write a rushed, different ending without the last two episodes. “I feel incomplete,” says Taraji. “I have to finish those two episodes, or this will haunt me for the rest of my life – as it would the audience.” The Cookie spin-off was also dumped, which Taraji is sad about. “Fans want to see her in furs!”

 ??  ?? Cookie (left) and Lucious don’t get the ending that Empire fans hoped for.
Cookie (left) and Lucious don’t get the ending that Empire fans hoped for.
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