Empire season 5

The fifth season of the American television drama series Empire premiered on September 26, 2018 and ended on May 8, 2019, in the United States on Fox. The season was ordered on May 2, 2018, consisting of eighteen episodes with Brett Mahoney taking over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, in association with Imagine Entertainment, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Danny Strong Productions and Little Chicken Inc. The showrunners for this season are Mahoney, Danny Strong and Lee Daniels.

Main cast

 * Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon
 * Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon
 * Bryshere Y. Gray as Hakeem Lyon
 * Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon
 * Trai Byers as Andre Lyon
 * Gabourey Sidibe as Becky Williams
 * Ta'Rhonda Jones as Porsha Taylor
 * Serayah as Tiana Brown
 * Nicole Ari Parker as Giselle Sims
 * Andre Royo as Thirsty Rawlings
 * Chet Hanks as Blake
 * Rhyon Nicole Brown as Maya
 * A.Z. Kelsey as Jeff Kingsley

Recurring cast

 * Forest Whitaker as Eddie Barker
 * Toby Onwumere as Kai Givens
 * Katlynn Simone as Treasure
 * Mario as Devon
 * Skylan Brooks as Quincy
 * Tasha Smith as Carol Holloway
 * Phylicia Rashad as Diana DuBois
 * Meta Golding as Teri
 * Wood Harris as Damon Cross
 * Vivica A. Fox as Candace Holloway
 * Joss Stone as Wynter
 * Tisha Campbell-Martin as Brooke
 * Alicia Coppola as Megan Conway
 * Xzibit as Shine

Development
As part of the renewal process, Brett Mahoney took over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken.

Casting
On July 18, 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Rhyon Nicole Brown has been upped to regular cast. On June 25, 2018, Nicole Ari Parker was also upgraded to series regular status after recurring in the fourth season.

On February 22, 2019, series executives announced that Jussie Smollett would not appear in the final two episodes of the season. Smollett had been arrested in Chicago one day earlier, on charges of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report in connection with an assault on him that authorities believed he had staged.