Will the rest of the main "Empire" season 2 cast, particularly the Lyon family, remain complete when the show returns?
If there is one thing the Fox TV series hasn't done, that is eliminating some well-loved characters.
While the show hasn't axed anyone from the main family, Jussie Smollett insists no one is safe on the show. With the stakes getting higher each episode and more and more powerful people getting involved in the Empire Entertainment, Lucius (Terrence Howard) and Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) will find their backs against the wall and losing a life, theirs or their kids, is not out of the equation.
Smollett recalled the time when showrunner Lee Daniels talked to him in private. He feared it was already his time to go. Turned out, Daniels just want to break down a grand news to him.
"[He] sat me down and said, 'I need to talk to you because no one is safe on 'Empire," Smollett, who plays Jamal Lyon, told AOL.
"He said, 'Well, you're not being fired, but we want Jamal to take a sabbatical.'"
"He was quiet for a second and then he was like, 'Stupid b***h you ain't being sent on a sabbatical -- you're the new face of Pepsi!'"
Smollett is still part of the "Empire" season 2 cast but when the show returns next year, his fans and the show in general should expect the unexpected.
"The next eight episodes is just a continuation of the craziness," he said in another interview InStyle. "But, what I'm saying is we'll really start to see that it's time the parents start fixing their roles in the family. It's going to be good-still the drama and then fighting, but you're gonna get there."
The show's mid-season finale ended with Cookie, Lucius, Jamal, and Andrei getting forced to work together as Empire board voted to have Lucius fired as CEO, no thanks to Hakeem who voted against his father.
"Empire" season 2 episode 11 titled "Death will have His Day" will air on March 30.
