‘Empire’ Spoilers: Is Terrence Howard Leaving After Lucious Is Murdered?

Empire is set to return to Fox for the remainder of Season 3 on March 22, and producers are teasing that there’s a very good chance Andre (Trai Byers) kills his father Lucious (Terrence Howard) in the coming episodes, meaning Terrence could potentially be leaving the series.

Empire co-creator and executive producer Danny Strong recently spoke out about the chances of Andre, who struggles with bipolar disorder, actually killing Lucious in Season 3, dropping some major spoilers while admitting that seeing Terrence’s character die at the hands of his son is very much a possibility.

“I think Andre has the potential to do anything,” Danny replied when asked by Hollywood Life if Andre could potentially kill Lucious in the remaining episodes of Empire’s third season. “I mean, first off, he’s mentally unstable.”

Empire executive producer Sanaa Hamri also hinted that there’s the possibility Andre could finally kill off Lucious amid their drama, telling the site while dishing out some spoilers that the the eldest of the Lyon brothers “has one mission and that’s to get rid of Lucious” going forward.

“That’s what he’s going to be pursuing for the second-half of the season,” the Empire executive producer continued of the potential death, revealing that Andre is “after his own father for various reasons” after the father-son duo have been through a rollercoaster of emotions during the first half of Season 3, including Luscious marrying the woman who murdered Andre’s wife.

“His father has wronged him, he was never the apple of the eye to Lucious, so he will do anything he can in a psychopathic way and a manipulative way to bring Lucious down,” the Empire producer continued of what’s ahead. “It’s going to be an interesting next nine episodes to see what happens with that.”

Empire fans have been speculating that Lucious needs to watch his back when it comes to Andre for a while now, as the mid-season finale, titled “A Furnace For Your Foe,” saw Andre reveal his plans to murder Lucious to his arch-nemesis Shyne (Xzibit).

After finally letting go of Rhonda’s (Caitlyn Doubleday) ghost following his wife’s shocking death, Billboard reported that the eldest Lyon brother struck a huge deal with Shyne to take the reins on Nessa’s (Sierra McClain) career before telling the character that he wanted to kill his dad, the ruthless CEO of Empire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_bXHSqaN1U

“We’ll put the pieces in place, cover our tracks, make all the moves we need to make until it’s time,” Andre said during the Season 3 winter finale of Empire back in December. “Until it’s time to kill my father.”

Empire producers previously teased that death could be coming to Terrence Howard’s character following the December episode, as Hamri told Entertainment Tonight at the time that “Andre’s the perfect candidate to follow through with such a statement,” particularly because of his struggle with bipolar disorder.

“He’s extremely calculated and smart, so I fear for Lucious’ life because I know that Andre is going to follow through,” the Empire producer continued last year, hinting Howard could be out of the job if the murder really does take place.

“[Andre Lyon] literally has nothing to lose, and people with nothing to lose are the most dangerous,” Hamri continued of the possibility of Lyon being murdered on Empire. “It makes sense that he wants to kill Lucious and he’s going to do whatever he can to achieve that goal.”

But it’s not just Andre who has serious beef with Lucious as Season 3 of Empire picks back up on Fox on March 22, as the show’s crew revealed that things are also about to get seriously intense for Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and her ex-husband.

Empire’s Danny also teased that Lucious and Cookie are going to be doing some serious fighting in the remaining episodes of Season 3, teasing that “s***’s going to be crazy” for the former couple as they battle it out for the rights to own Empire Records amid speculation Terrence Howard may be leaving.

Confirming that Taraji’s character and Terrence’s character are once again at war, Danny told Hollywood Life “it really goes down” between the two when they once again go head to head with each other in Season 3, adding that “inferno is what sets it up.”

Do you think Andre Lyon will actually kill Lucious Lyon in the coming episodes of Season 3 of Empire?

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]