‘Empire’ Season 3B Spoilers: What To Expect When The Fox Musical Drama Returns From Winter Hiatus

“Empire” fans have been waiting since December for new episodes of the wildly popular musical drama and finally, the Season 3B premiere is almost here. The show is set to return on Wednesday, March 22, at 9 p.m. EST and, as always, Fox is promising to pack a major punch.

When “Empire” came to a close two months ago, viewers watched as Angelo (Taye Diggs) struggled to keep his head above water while running for mayor of New York City. His potential constituents viewed him as an outsider and weren’t comfortable with him at the city’s helm. After racking his brain for ways to connect to the people, Angelo finally got an idea — he reached out to Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), who agreed to perform “Help” at the Captain’s Ball. Her performance, along with Jamal’s (Jussie Smollett), helped the people finally find a connection with Angelo.

Jamal prepped for the performance while coping with serious withdrawals after Cookie dumped his pills down the drain. She threatened him with the cancelation of his performance as a whole if he didn’t agree to straighten up and fly right. Although Cookie was stern at first, Jamal’s continued begging eventually got to her. In time, she agreed to dig through the pipe and grab the pills, feeding them to Jamal to end his withdrawal and allow him to perform, but she was not done with him yet.

After the show, Jamal walked off stage to find himself smack in the middle of an intervention. His entire family, including Lucious (Terrence Howard), showed up to offer their love and support in the hopes that he would stop using drugs. Jamal reluctantly agreed to accept their help and go to rehab.

Meanwhile Diana (Phylicia Rashad), delighted by Angelo’s big win with the people of New York, began scheming. She turned to Lucious for help erasing a scandal from Angelo’s past promising that in return she would end Cookie and Angelo’s relationship for good. Naturally, he agreed, ordering someone in his circle to threaten the writer who intended to make Angelo’s dark secret public. His plan worked, but Diana never intended to make good on her portion of the promise.

The closer Angelo and Cookie got, the more the people responded. His approval ratings were spiking and Diana had no intention of allowing him to ruin that.

In private, Andre was dealing with some issues of his own. He finally admitted to Nessa (Sierra A. McClain) that he was diagnosed as bipolar. The news stirred up a number of questions, which Andre was happy to answer. He revealed that his late wife was a great source of strength for him in dealing with his mental illness and Nessa outlined her plan for doing the same. She told him she intended to push him to care for himself and recognize issues related to his bipolar disorder before they spiral out of control. It was then that Andre felt he was finally ready to let go of his dead wife Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) and move forward with Nessa, but not before he could get a little revenge on Anika (Grace Gealey).

As for the Empire Records drama, Tariq (Morocco Omari) got the help of a judge in freezing the company’s assets for 30 days. This move put the company in the red zone, but Shyne (Xzibit) was there to lend a helping hand. The musician, who also happened to be working with Tariq, agreed to lend Lucious $50 million for some stake in Empire Records. He agreed, unaware that a takeover was in the works.

Lucious’ misstep with Shyne may have been related to the fact that he was distracted by bigger plans. Desperate to get back at Diana, Lucious teamed up with the reporter he scorned to insure that Angelo would never be mayor. He let it slip out that Angelo got a DUI for driving under the influence into a river. He escaped the car alive, but left his female passenger to drown. When the episode wrapped, Cookie, Angelo and Diana were left standing before a crowd completely flabbergasted.

With such a wild ending, “Empire” fans can bet the rest of the show is going to be pretty over-the-top. Here’s everything we know about the latter portion of Season 3 so far:

Lucious’ Days May Be Numbered

That’s right, the notorious Lucious may be the next character killed off of “Empire.” Executive producer Sanaa Hamri opened up about Andre’s proclamation that he wanted to kill the Empire Records head in the first half of Season 3. Hamri told Entertainment Tonight that Andre is a man of his word and just may follow through with killing Lucious when “Empire” returns.

“He’s been plotting and planning since the fifth episode of the third season,” she said. “He’s extremely calculated and smart, so I fear for Lucious’ life because I know that Andre is going to follow through. He has no wife, no child — he has a girlfriend — but he literally has nothing to lose, and people with nothing to lose are the most dangerous. It makes sense that he wants to kill Lucious and he’s going to do whatever he can to achieve that goal.”

There Will Be New Stars

Entertainment Weekly confirmed on Wednesday that Demi Moore had signed on for a recurring role on “Empire.” She will not appear until the Season 3 finale, but will be playing “a take-charge nurse with a mysterious past.” Her daughter Rumer Willis is also slated to appear on the show.

The Lyons’ Will Turn On Each Other

According to the midseason premiere synopsis from Fox, Lucious and Cookie will go to battle in episode 10. The network teased “their biggest war yet,” adding that Lucious will unveil a new music project that sets Cookie off. While it’s not clear what exactly will happen when the two faceoff, the synopsis suggests their feud will be “fueled by a history of love, loyalty, and betrayal.”

Tune in to “Empire” on Fox at 9 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 22.