Empire (season 5)


The fifth season of the American television drama series Empire premiered on September 26, 2018 and ended on May 8, 2019, in the United States on Fox. The season was ordered on May 2, 2018, consisting of eighteen episodes with Brett Mahoney taking over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, in association with Imagine Entertainment, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Danny Strong Productions and Little Chicken Inc. The showrunners for this season are Mahoney, Danny Strong and Lee Daniels.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Production

Development

As part of the renewal process, Brett Mahoney took over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken.

Casting

On July 18, 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Rhyon Nicole Brown has been upped to regular cast. On June 25, 2018, Nicole Ari Parker was also upgraded to series regular status after recurring in the fourth season.
On February 22, 2019, series executives announced that Jussie Smollett would not appear in the final two episodes of the season. Smollett had been arrested in Chicago one day earlier, on charges of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report in connection with an assault on him that authorities believed he had staged.

Reception

Ratings