"Empire" Season 5 returned with a huge mind-boggling incident. After a two-year time jump, Eddie (Forest Whitaker) died, and Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) gained control of Empire once again. But the most surprising of them all is a flash forward scene where Lucious was standing beside a casket of an unknown person.
"I'm sorry," Lucious said to the mysterious individual lying on the coffin. Now the big question is: who died in "Empire" Season 5? It is certainly not Lucious or Eddie. Eddie got cremated, and his ashes got dumped in the sewer by Giselle (Nicole Ari Parker).
Showrunner Brett Mahoney revealed it would take a whole "Empire" Season 5 before fans would know who the mystery guy in the casket is. "The mystery will play out the entire season," she said, per Cinema Blend. "We will know who is in the coffin by the [finale]."
There would be many flash-forward scenes in "Empire" Season 5 that would play as puzzle pieces that needed to be solved. There would be a lot of hints about the mysterious "six-month gap" that happened at the time of the new season's start and the flash-forward.
"The idea with the flash-forward, we're going to be repeating that throughout the season and eventually we'll catch up to them," Mahoney told Entertainment Weekly. She also said the puzzle pieces in "Empire" Season 5 would not be in order, but viewers could surely put those together.
Mahoney also revealed that the actor/actress who died in "Empire" Season 5 did not have any idea of his fate. There are possibilities that one of Lyons would meet his/her demise. There are even theories it could be Cookie, Andre (Trai Byers), Jamal (Jussie Smollett), or Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray).
However, Mahoney revealed the mysterious death would not be a major character, but it would create a great impact on everyone in "Empire" Season 5. Whoever it would be, the showrunner hopes it would give fans the satisfaction.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Smollett at the Tribeca TV Festival, he talked about the mysterious death that happened in "Empire" Season 5. "It's a slow burn, and they're playing all of us," the 35-year-old actor told Hollywood Life.
Smollett revealed he also has no idea who is the mystery guy who died in "Empire" Season 5. But he teased that it could be him or anyone else, but he strongly believes it would be a Lyon.
"Empire" Season 5 hits the television screens every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on FOX.
