Is ‘Empire’ Ending Before Season 5? Taraji P. Henson Teases Series Finale

It seems like “Empire” Season 4 is just heating up, and star Taraji P. Henson, who plays Cookie Lyon, is not ready to go anywhere just yet. While the actress adores her job and expressed her desire for the show to go on for a long time, she is realistic about the fact that all things must come to an end.

While she can only hope that “Empire” isn’t canceled anytime soon, during an interview with Us Weekly, Henson admitted that she has thought about how she would like to see her character end up when the Fox series airs its final episode.

“I just want Cookie to be happy,” the “Hidden Figures” actress stated.

“And I think she’s most happy when her boys are doing good. I honestly think at the core of Cookie she just wants her family back. I really believe that,” the star stated.

Aside from hoping for the best for her character, Henson confessed that there isn’t much that she would take from Cookie’s closet if the show were to wrap because she already keeps a majority of her costumes.

“I keep a lot of the higher end pieces. There was a cat suit that I kept that the audience never even saw the whole outfit, just from the waist up. And it’s black,” the star admitted.

“I keep most of the pieces that are trendy. Anything Chanel. They have a mean collection of Chanel. I collect shoes. Anytime they get a Chanel piece — they may not keep it for Cookie — but they will show it to me first before sending it back because nine times out of 10 I’m going to buy it,” she added.

Henson will have the opportunity to add plenty more pieces to her fashion collection seeing as the show is slated to have an 18-episode season. The network will soon air its fall finale and is expected to return for new episodes in March, according to Deadline.

The series, which has moved to a new time slot this season, experienced a ratings drop in October, according to Variety. The show pulled in an all-time low with one episode pulling in around 5.5 million viewers. The record for the series low was previously held by Season 3, episode 15 which pulled in 5.6 million viewers. Compare that to the Season 4 premiere, which averaged over 7 million viewers.

While the show could potentially be canceled, it is important to note that series’ ratings tend to pick up ahead of their finales, and “Empire” in particular tends to pull its ratings up based on numbers from delayed viewings of the episodes.

Although the series has yet to be renewed for a fifth season, fans can catch “Empire” Season 4 airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Fox.