(Viewers don't see how that happened, suggesting a scene that hadn't been filmed. "Wewant to be able to film the intended finale we came up with and think we owe it to the fans to do that. Gross! Yana realizes that Lucious' heart is still with Cookie and the pair break-up in amicable terms with a friendly hug. [26], In May 2015, Henson won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Cookie. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) capitalized on her newfound social media fame and joined a daytime talk show, similar to The View where shes openly discussed no longer dating Lucious and doesnt get involved with Empire anymore. Other relatives. In one of the episode's best scenes, Yana takes the stage at Cookie's BossyFest musical extravaganza, performing "Home is on the Way,"a love song (and the finale title) that Lucious wrote with Cookie in mind as the Lyonslook lovingly at each other from opposite sides of the stage. For whatever it's worthy, it's good to know that the creative team intended for viewers to have time to ruminate on all that before diving into everything else. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Henson who had just ended her stint on Person of Interest in 2013 said she was done with television. Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is hiding from the federal government who want him on money laundering charges, so he wears a Bob Marley-like wig and glasses, and has a new girlfriend. Heres how it works. She climbed into her car, found a note, and then was seemingly blown up in her car. After Mouse paid him an unexpected visit to his house, the two met alone where again his felon friend attempted to extort him. Seriously? About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Tuesdays episode of the departing Fox drama concluded with a fast-forward sequence that appeared to show Cookie getting blown to smithereens via car bomb. Her reason for wanting to kill lucious is clearly known to all. If you like TVLine, you'll LOVE our email news alerts! She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. Would the show still have an unsatisfying ending even with the full 20 Evan Yana's father and Lucious's rival, Damon Cross (Wood Harris), who is persuaded that there's no romantic entanglement with Lucious, approves of the professional relationship. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. Well, that's all I will say on her, and let your mind think of more reasons why Becky is a suspect. Shes a singer at a nightclub and Damon Cross (Wood Harris) daughter who is blissfully unaware of any relationship between the two men. Though cast and crew are holding out hope that they will one day shoot a real finale for the series, for now fans are left with Season 6, Episode 18, as the end of Empire. However, federal prosecutors went public with the pending charges against Lucious in an attempt to scare him out of hiding and turn himself in. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Even Becky (Gabourey Sidibe), the Lyon assistant who has risen in the music business, has her own happy ending:A bigbirthday bash that leads to a reconciliation with Porsha(Ta'Rhonda Jones). Still, Giselle and Patel have every reason to be as furious with Cookie as with Lucious, and Giselle especially might see Cookie as the reason why everything went wrong for her in the second half of Empire Season 6. When EW interviewed showrunner Brett Mahoney, he called the future . 'Empire' season finale recap: life, death and a Cookie fight Enter youngest Lyon brother Hakeem (Bryshere Y. One of the first moments that stood out for its absurdity happened in the pilot episode. ©2019 Fox Media LLC CR: Chuck Hodes/FOX. Gizelle has a lot to fight for as Cookie and Lucious has virtually ruined her life and career. Even though they separate there, even Cookie says it, it's not that they don't love each other, it's can they be together? Anyone hoping to see Empire become a full-on franchise have another big question, too: what about that Cookie spin-off? ), Cookie arrives on the scene, fearing Lucious is dead, before he utters, "It's over. Instead of Smollett as the adult Jamal (now living in London to explain his absence this season), the flashback sequence insteadsimply shows a younger actor playing Jamal as a child. Executive producer Lee Daniels revealed that Cookie was loosely based on the women in his life including his sister as well as Joan Collins' Dynasty character, Alexis Colby. Who wrote the note, and what did the note say to alarm her? Tracy was shot in the midseason premiere before she could shoot Cookie. And the loss of him will impact Lucious and the family moving forward. Like Henson, who lost her son's father three years after giving birth, Cookie "did whatever she had to do" to support her family. Throughout the episode, Cookie examines her evolutionover the years,and her history with Lucious isunderlined with flashbacks, both passionate and violent, from earlier episodes and scenes depicting younger versions of their characters. Chuck Hodes / Fox. I think we are still in the same place where we don't have plans specifically at this moment. 's LaRoyce Hawkins Talks The 'Great Relief' Of Finally Being Renewed For Season 11. NY 10036. Empire had to stop production two episodes short of the planned series finale, and no Season 7 is coming to tie off the loose ends. After only one premiere show, women are asking how to look like Cookie. According to Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney, the ill-fated 20th episode (aka the original series finale) was going to wrap up both cliffhangers, as well as bring resolution to a number of other. In another look to the future, Cookie was seen rushing out of the mansion after Lucious was shot. April 11, 2018. Jamal tries to rally the family . Wait, Is Empire Killing Off Cookie In The Final Season Too? Portrayed by Taraji P. Henson, Cookie is one of the main characters within the series, the queen bee and the wife of former drug dealer turned hip-hop mogul, Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) who gets released from prison and strikes out to lay claim to half of their multimillion-dollar record label, which was initially funded by her drug money. 'Empire': Cookie & Lucious Back Together - Hollywood Life Cookie and Lucious were married before Empire Entertainment was founded. [13][20][21][22] Sandy Cohen described Cookie as the "heart" of the series. The Empire lost an heirbut maybe not the one we expected. "[5] "She's a lot of things," Henson said of her character in an interview with E!. A good chunk of this season will see Cookie continually receiving professional help from her therapist (Keesha Sharp) as she attempts to break free of that vicious cycle with Lucious and finally start taking proper care of herself. After bringing them together, why did this feel like the appropriate move? Opera News does not consent to nor does it condone the posting of any content that violates the rights (including the copyrights) of any third party, nor content that may malign, inter alia, any religion, ethnic group, organization, gender, company, or individual. Cookie "doesn't compromise at all? She then creates a new company with Hakeem named Lyon Dynasty after the failed hostile takeover, which then causes a conflict with Lucious' Empire and Cookie's Lyon Dynasty. "I think a lot of people will identify with her this season, the struggle to find herself in that and to free herself from that because she knows that it no longer serves her. Was Cookie inside of the car? Opera News furthermore does not condone the use of our platform for the purposes encouraging/endorsing hate speech, violation of human rights and/or utterances of a defamatory nature. Bunkie Williams (uncle) Jermel (cousin) Andre Martin Lyon is a fictional character from the American musical drama Empire, on Fox. Lucious managed to beat Damon to death with his prosthetic leg. And if we can't do it, hopefully we can find some creative way to at least get the script out. Umm so they are going to make this season worse by just cutting it at whatever they have filmed? As youll recall, Empire opened its final season last month which a flash-forward sequence showing the Lyon patriarch taking three bullets to the upper body by an unknown assailant. 'Empire' Series Finale Recap: Season 6, Episode 18 | TVLine Empire Spoilers: Is Andre The Final Season Villain After Game-Changing Lucious managed to beat Damon to death with his prosthetic leg. "It's bittersweet and it's heartbreaking, but Lucious has a hard head. By "[14], A big part of the character is Cookie's fashion, which Henson has quite a lot of input in. We don't know when production will start again. Heres what he told TVLine: Episode 18 [originally was supposed to] end with the death of Yana, which wouldve given [viewers] a week to [recover]. In the Season 5 premiere, it has been revealed that two years has passed since Cookie and Lucious lost Empire to Teddy Barker which is then turned over to Jeff Kingsley after Teddy unexpectedly dies. With Henson, Cookie doesn't become a "caricature" but instead is a "complicated woman who is far from one-dimensional," thanks to the "emotional sensitivity" that Henson brings to the character. So I don't think the door is closed, it's just a matter if they can come back to itand if they do come back to it, they'll come back to it in a more mature way. In the Season 5 finale, Lucious has to temporarily leave New York City since he is wanted by the FBI. Do you think the hype of who died got bigger than you expected? This time, its Lucious on the other side, as Season 6 started with a flash-forward of someone shooting the Empire owner several times in the chest. But since we had shot this scene at the movie premiere, which [resembled the] spirit of the original finale, I [realized] I could build something [for the makeshift finale] with that [footage] and at least end it in the same spirit that we intended, in terms of Cookie and Lucious recognizing their love for one another, and the family coming together and realizing that the Lyons were more important than Empire. Kelly and Giselle were able to gain the power they had over the business was due to Andre Lyons (Trai Byers) and his breakdown after his separation from wife and son. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. As he strangled Mouse, the mother of his child, Terry, seemed to go into unexpected labor and laid on the ground as blood poured from her. Nobody at the show is to blame for the Season 6 ending that was downright ridiculous even by Empire's spectacularly soapy standards. Eventually, Lucious learns that Jeff is actually Lucious' son that he had with another woman, Tracy Kingsley, before he married Cookie. ? In the season 5 premiere, Empire unveiled a flash-forward structure that featured Lucious standing over a mysterious coffin. Why was Cookie at the mansion in the first place, and why was she rushing out of it in such a hurry? Frank Gathers then sends Jermel's severed head to Cookie and Carol and realises that he is out to get her. So then you don't think the damage is irreparable? Lee Daniels and Danny Strong created this Fox drama about a kingpin of hip-hop (played by Terrence Howard) and his family, who fight him for control of the empire. However, in order to allow that to happen, the show first had to get rid of Lucious' young musical protege Yana (Kiandra Richardson). 'Empire' Recap: Season 2 Finale, Episode 18 Rhonda and/or Anika Die If you recall, season 6 beginning shows us of how the great Lucious Lyon was shot to death and how Cookie was seen to explode in a car. Andre will surely be thankful, but Cookie and Hakeem should probably feel some guilt for how they treated him. See 28 Of Taylor Swift's Stunning Eras Tour Outfits, Yellowjackets' Non-Binary Star Calls Out Emmys For Sticking With Gendered Categories, Pulls Out Of Award Contention, Steven Spielberg Admits Censoring E.T. Middle sonJamalis mentioned during Hakeem's rap, but the accompanyingflashback sequence doesn't showactor Jussie Smollett, who was written out of the show last seasonafter allegations he staged a hate-crime attackin Chicago, where "Empire" filmed. He's locked Leah away after she killed Tariq, whose body is sitting in the tub at his mansion. ??? Did the car explosion happen while Lucious was getting shot, or was that a trick of the editing? Portrayed by Trai Byers, Andre is the oldest son of hip-hop mogul Lucious ( Terrence Howard) and his wife Cookie ( Taraji P. Henson ). In the show's first episode, Cookie gets released from prison and immediately visits Jamal, her gay son (Jussie Smollett), the only member of the family that has kept in touch with her. Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Since it was the united efforts of Lucious, Cookie, and Andre that ended in Tracy's death, not to mention everything that went down before she snapped. 'Empire': Cookie, Andre Uncover Dark Lyon Family Secrets Additionally, Andre could pull the trigger because he finally has Empire and the only thing that could ruin it is his dads image, especially if they dont have the documents to clear Lucious as Andre claims. RELATED STORIES I guess that was a little bit of a surprise. At first Mouse wants a job, but then gets greedy after realizing that Andre is now the permanent CEO of Empire. 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What's clear, though, is that something bad is going to happen to Cookie, and it probably has to do with her estranged husband Lucious (Terrence Howard), whose shocking death was also teased earlier in the season. It wasn't upper middle class; it was lower middle class." For instance, Lucious almost died and lost his memory and he didn't snap out of . Carter praised Henson's portrayal of Cookie as well as the actor's previous characters and said that "Her characters consistently feel like real people the audience actually knows, thanks to the measured way in which she portrays black women who've endured hardships." It's been a long time coming for a character who, in the past, has had trouble leaving him and his never-ending issues behind. For Season 5, viewers saw Lucious Lyon standing over a coffin and then found out that his oldest son, Kingsley lay inside. "[7] Crime novelist Attica Locke joined the writing team after the Pilot and admitted that it was because of Cookie. 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Will not time travel, but will sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation. (He said he hasan opinion on the matter, but declined to share it. The vignette suggests that Cookie will die in the near future, but as we've learned from the past, that might not necessarily be the case. ??? But a closing featuring "the Lyon family coming together, Lucious and Cookie acknowledging their love for one another, was definitely the spirit we were going to be reaching in the series finale.". [3] Eventually, Cookie and Lucious get remarried in the Season 4 finale. He then pulled out a knife and lunged at Andre with it, who fought back and punched him until the blade fell on the ground. [12] Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly said that "In Henson's hands, Cookie becomes a hot-blooded mother lion in Louboutins, sure to be the show's most quoted character. The turbulent family saga, which took TV by storm when it premiered in 2015, came to its end earlier than expected Tuesday after the coronavirus-related production shutdown forced producers to refashion the two episodes scheduled before the finale one half-filmed into oneseries closer. EMPIRE: Terrence Howard in the "The Roughest Day" Season Five finale episode of EMPIRE airing Wednesday, May 8 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Cookie is later confronted by federal agents who want her to testify in front of a grand jury against the drug dealer that she ratted out to obtain her release who was Frank Gathers. Michael Ausiello / It's unrealistic to not think about how it should end and how do you draw the empire to an epic conclusion. Hes also working on a new documentary about the company, starring his younger brother Hakeem (Bryshere Y. However, Henson's manager sent her the script for Empire anyway. The Views Sunny Hostin Shares Her Thoughts On Don Lemons Firing: It Doesn't Make Sense.