The hit series’ co-creator Lee Daniels released a statement confirming that the show’s 18th episode will serve as the series finale, instead of the scheduled episode 20 that wasn’t able to be completed because of the pandemic.
Lee Daniels celebrates a successful but ultimately incomplete “Empire” run. @leedaniels/Instagram
Daniels began by expressing his pride to everyone that worked on the show. “The success of ‘Empire’ and bringing the Lyon family to broadcast television will always be one of the proudest achievements of my career,” he said in the statement published by Essence. “This show is the definition of breaking barriers. Thank you to our incredible cast, especially Terrence [Howard] and Taraji [P. Henson], along with our amazing writers and tireless crew, for all of their hard work and bringing this story to life.”
Co-creator Danny Strong also released a statement, saying that he hopes to one day deliver the series finale that the characters and fans truly deserve.
“The episode airing on April 21 was never meant to be the series finale, but due to current events it will likely be the last one our fans will see for a while. We had an ending for the series planned that we all loved, and hopefully someday we’ll be able to film it and give the series its proper conclusion,” reads his statement.