How Did ‘Empire’ Season 4 End? Finale Recap Before Season 5 Premiere

When “Empire” Season 5 premieres, Cookie, Lucious, Hakeem, Jamal and Andre will find themselves without one of the things they value the most--their record label. Along with losing a major symbol of their success, the Season 4 finale left fans questioning the fate of three characters whose lives were put in danger in the final seconds of the last episode.

This season, the once powerful family will attempt to pick themselves back up following the ultimate betrayal, as they also struggle to correct past mistakes and reclaim their spot as the rightful owners of Empire records.

Before tuning in to the Season 5 premiere of the Fox series, take a look back at how the Season 4 “Empire” finale came to an end.

When viewers last saw the Lyon family, it appeared as if their lives were spiraling out of control. Eddie (Forrest Whitaker) took a trip to the Lyons’ estate, where he threatened to expose Lucious (Terrence Howard) for killing Shyne (Xzibit). Eddie vowed to give the police the scarf Lucious wore the night of the murder if the family didn’t sign their profits from the company sale over to him.

Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) thought she could use Anika (Grace Byers) to get the family out from under Eddie’s thumb, but Lucious’ scorned lover was enjoying the family’s suffering too much to have any interest in helping her.

At the studio, Tory (Rumer Willis) confronted Jamal (Jussie Smollett) about revealing the identities of the people in their group, Anonymous, and forcing the artists into the spotlight. Although Tory had her doubts about losing their sound, Jamal was certain they would still be able to create great music.

After agreeing to meet up later in the day, Jamal found Tory unresponsive on the floor with several pills next to her. Once he got her to the hospital, she explained she couldn’t handle fame and questioned whether Jamal ever had the desire to be a nobody.

Back at the Lyon’s den, Luscious told Cookie he should turn himself in for Shyne’s murder so she could continue to run the family business, but she wasn’t happy about the idea of running Empire without him.

Lucious decided it was time to sit Andre (Trai Byers) down and inform his eldest son about what he intended to do. Andre wanted to admit to the crime since he was the reason why Shyne tried to kill Lucious. However, his father wouldn’t allow it, and instead, Lucious wanted Andre to use his darkness to help his mother run the company.

The following morning, the family gathered for breakfast, where Lucious told Jamal and Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) about everything that was going on. He confessed to murdering Shyne and revealed Andre would prepare a bid to buy back Empire for $750 million. The only issue was Lucious was unaware Cookie had made a separate plan.

When they arrived at the meeting with the board, the bid placed by the Lyon family was for $0. Cookie confessed to changing the bid so Lucious wouldn’t spend his life in prison. As a result, the family was no longer the majority shareholders of the label, but Cookie was able to get Lucious’ scarf from Eddie and keep her family together.

Eddie quickly began to remove traces of the Lyon family from the building but Cookie and Lucious vowed to rebuild the company they started together.

After losing the family legacy, Jamal went to visit Tory but learned she had a seizure and died. The tragic loss made him realize he needed to go to a place where he could be a nobody even though Cookie begged him to stay to help his family.

Over at Empire, the new executives prepared to address the press and Anika did little to downplay her excitement about finally taking the Lyon clan down. Before she could take the stage, Andre told Anika he forgave her for causing Rhonda and his baby’s death. The two toasted and wished each other well.

However, when Anika took the stage, she began to hallucinate and saw Rhonda in the crowd. Running off, Anika believed Rhonda was chasing her and threw herself off the balcony. She then landed on the champagne table and appeared to take her last breath as Rhonda’s ghost stared down at her.

As the episode began to wrap up, Lucious and Cookie were seen at the Lyon compound agreeing to start over together. In order for Lucious to have a fresh start, he decided it was time to propose to Cookie and demanded the two go straight to the courthouse to make things legal.

Elsewhere, Tiana (Serayah) tracked down Hakeem and told him she was pregnant. Thrilled by the news, the pair decided to get back together and begin the next chapter in their lives. Joined by Blake (Chet Hanks), Tiana, Hakeem and Bella headed to the car, where she strapped the baby girl into her car seat and closed the door.

When Tiana turned around, her look of joy quickly turned to horror as Blake’s father was shown holding a shotgun and pointing it in the direction of the three artists. As Blake ran towards his father, the screen cut to black and three gunshots were heard.

“Empire” Season 5 premieres Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT On Fox.