Taraji P Henson & Vivica A Fox Are Rooting for Jussie Smollett's 'Empire' Return but Fox Says No

The "Empire" star, Taraji P. Henson, and her co-star, Vivica A. expressed their desire for Cookie's favorite son, Jamal, to come back and end the season with them.

Time has come for the TV Series, "Empire," to wrap things up and put an end to its production. The cast and crew are excited about the finale and have described it as a bittersweet moment.

To the surprise of no one, the team behind "Empire" has become a family and, like every other family, would prefer to end the season with every member present.

Jussie Smollet, has been away for almost a year now, and members of the cast and crew hoped that he would re-appear in the last season of Empire. However, the President of Fox Entertainment had something else in mind.

Taraji P. Henson, who played the role of Jussie's mom, Cookie, in the series, and Vivica A., who played Cookie's sister, expressed their hopes for Jussie's return during an interview with Access Hollywood.

When asked if the viewers are likely to see Jussie in the finale, Taraji said:

"I'm hoping we do. I would love to see him. I mean we started with him, we should finish with him. That's my sentiment."

In another interview with Extra, Taraji said if she had her way, Jussie would have been back already. Like Taraji, Vivica wants Jussie back, but as much as she does, she said it's a network decision.

The showrunner of the series, Brett Mahoney, also thinks Jussie should be a part of the finale. He told "TheWrap" that it would be weird to end the show without him.

Jussie allegedly paid people to stage an attack on him in Chicago and lied to the police about it

Amid sentiment from the cast, crew, and fans of the show as regards bringing back Jussie's character, the president of Fox is unwavering in his decision.

To him and other producers, the show is much bigger than the controversies surrounding Jussie, and they are more concerned in making sure the end is as excellent as the beginning. Micheal Thorn said.

"Our hope at Fox — and I know the producers feel the same way — is that the show, to us, is much bigger than some of the personal stuff that's unfortunately happened for Jussie, where we just want the ending to be as epic as the beginning."

Despite the protests from Jussie's supporters, the 38-year-old actor was made to leave the show close to the end of the last season, season 5.

Jamal's move to Paris explained his absence in the show. His forced departure, however, was as a result of a high profiled hate crime he staged against himself.

Jussie allegedly paid people to stage an attack on him in Chicago and lied to the police about it. Investigations were carried out, and it was later discovered that he was behind it.

The city of Chicago filed a civil suit against him to recover the cost of the investigation. Jussie has, however, maintained his innocence and, in turn, filed a counterclaim against the city on the grounds of malicious prosecution.