TV

'Empire' to end after Season 6 on Fox

By Annie Martin   |   May 13, 2019 at 10:54 AM
Terrence Howard plays Lucious Lyon on the Fox series "Empire." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Taraji P. Henson attends the Los Angeles premiere of "What Men Want" on January 28. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Jussie Smollett attends the BET Awards in 2017. File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI

May 13 (UPI) -- Empire will end after a sixth and final season on Fox.

Variety confirmed Monday the musical drama starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson will come to a close after Season 6.

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"We are turning the final season into a television event," Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said.

Deadline reported Season 6 will consist of 20 episodes. Collier said there are "no plans" for Jussie Smollett to return as Jamal Lyon in the final season.

"There's an option to have Jussie in the series but we have no plans for that," he said, adding the writers haven't started work.

News of Empire's cancellation comes just two weeks after Fox renewed the series for Season 6. Fox also said at the time there were "no plans" to bring Smollett back.

Smollett was accused in February of staging a hate crime assault on himself. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the case and Smollett maintains he was the victim of an attack.

Empire was created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong. Fox also canceled Daniels' show Star last week after three seasons.