How Many Seasons Of Empire Are There (& Will It Get A Proper Finale?)

How many seasons does Empire have and is there any chance the show will get a proper finale? Co-created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, Fox drama Empire is a modern, urban retelling of the Shakespeare tragedy King Lear that stars Terrence Howard as drug dealer turned music mogul Lucious Lyon – the head of a hip hop empire trying to decide which of his three sons should take over the reins of his company after he’s diagnosed with a serious illness.

Complicating matters is Lucious’ ex-wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson), fresh out of a 17-year stint in prison after taking the fall for her former husband during their drug-running days and hellbent on staking her own claim of the company. Over the course of Empire’s five years on the air, it emerged his ex-wife wasn’t the only person with a grudge against Lucious Lyon, with a whole host of enemies coming out of the woodwork including former associate Eddie Barker (Forest Whitaker) and rival Leslie ‘Shyne’ Johnson (Xzibit).

Over the five years Fox aired Empire, the show racked up a total of six seasons and 102 episodes. The hip hop drama aired its series finale “Home Is On The Way” on April 21, 2020 but unfortunately it wasn’t quite the conclusion the Empire cast and crew originally intended to give the show. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic production on Empire’s sixth season was halted prematurely, leaving the final season with just eighteen episodes rather than the planned 20, thus forcing the showrunners to stitch together a series finale from what footage they already had.

While Empire was forced to end its six-season run prematurely, hopes are high the show might get a proper send-off yet. Showrunner Brett Mahoney has stated he hopes to give Empire the series finale it deserves once it’s safe to start filming again. If that’s not possible, Mahoney has plans to appease Empire fans by releasing the script that was penned for the grand finale or organizing a Zoom table read with the cast.

Even if Mahoney is unable to pull any of those plans off, Empire might not be completely over just yet. In July 2020, it was reported by several outlets Taraji P. Henson was working with Fox to develop a spinoff based around her character Cookie Lyon. Plot details are scarce, but it’s said the spinoff will focus on “what’s next for Cookie” – so at least the Empire universe could continue in some form.