TheEmpire lost an heirbut maybe not the one we expected.

In the season 5 premiere,Empireunveiled a flash-forward structure that featured Lucious standing over amysterious coffin.

When EW interviewed showrunner Brett Mahoney, he called the future death “impactful.”

EMPIRE: Terrence Howard in the “The Roughest Day” Season Five finale episode of EMPIRE airing Wednesday, May 8 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2019 Fox Media LLC CR: Chuck Hodes/FOX.

Credit: Chuck Hodes/FOX

Kelsey), was the unlucky victim.

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They live such a high-stakes life that it just seemed like life and death should touch upon them.

Toby Onwumere and Jussie Smollett

Chuck Hodes/FOX

I hope that it will resonate.

It’s not just his death but what he offered in his death.

And the loss of him will impact Lucious and the family moving forward.

Do you think the hype of who died got bigger than you expected?

People see a coffin and immediately jump to the biggest conclusions, such as losing an original character.

In that way, it was successful.

I don’t know if we could have predicted that people would have cared as much as they did.

I guess that was a little bit of a surprise.

So it did take on a life of its own, but I’m not mad at that.

In theseason 4 finale, you married Lucious and Cookie.

Now, in the season 5 finale, you split up Lucious and Cookie.

After bringing them together, why did this feel like the appropriate move?

This season was a test of their relationship, a test of ride-or-die.

So we were just trying to show how difficult it is.

Yes, they love each other, but is that enough?

And that’s an ongoing question; that question isn’t answered in our finale.

So then you don’t think the damage is irreparable?

Cookie seems to want to permanently set ablaze to the relationship whenshe says that she slept with Damon.

That’s exactly why she does it.

What can you say about where Lucious is going and what he plans on doing?

But, I think that he may leave and discover some new things about himself before he comes back.

So what should we expect for him moving forward?

I think we are still in the same place where we don’t have plans specifically at this moment.

It’s hard to imagine.

I’m not sure yet; we will see as we start things next season how things play out.

It’s still in the process of being figured out.

What else can you tease about season 6?