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What can you expect in season 5 ofEmpire?
Well, nothing crazy, just something thats never been done on television.
Chuck Hodes/FOX
I think its just incredible.
How are you feeling about where the show is at?I feel excited.
Theres a new energy.
Somehow it feels like a reset, which is exciting for us.
We broke new ground in season 1 and I think thats undebatable.
And then its kind of like, What do you do now?
Im trying not to give too much away because theres so much that I want to say!
Last season ended with Jamal off to London after the death of Tori (Rumer Willis).
Brett said Jamal would have to reassess who he is and how he fits in with the Lyons.
So how has that journey informed him?Hes grown now.
Hes got his full mane.
Hes a grown ass Lyon.
Hes Simba after Simba was hanging out with Timon and Pumbaa.
But I do think that its something that inspired him.
Its something that you think about and is with you forever.
you might take it and use it as one of your strengths, if its something youve gotten over.
Cookie and Lucious are okay, they just dont got no damn money!
Thats what I mean by a reset.
Now theyre doing it all over again and theyre doing it together.
Believe it or not, Cookie and Lucious have the most sane relationship of us all.
[Laughs] They stuck together.
But also, Ive said this for so long and I now that we got it right.
There are way too many people out there to fight that theyre actually not fighting each other.
Or do you think youre more in the home stretch?What the hell you heard?
No, I think it feels like…
Lets get this straight, Im in it with Jamal for the long run.
But I do think that our stories are firm and grounded.
And I definitely would say that I want us to dip out while were still telling great stories.
But that time is not now, not with season 5 on the horizon.
You aint gonna see anything like it.
I will say this, its never been done on television.
Youve never seen two black men in this way.
Empirereturns Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.
