Jazz Ensemble Cancels Kennedy Center New Year’s Eve Shows After Trump Renaming Sparks Backlash 
How Marvel’s Fantastic Four discovered the human in the superhuman 
Google and NBCUniversal Strike Multi-Year Deal to Keep NBC Shows on YouTube TV 
Disney’s Streaming Growth Hinges on International Expansion and Local Content 
FCC Chair Brendan Carr to Testify Before Senate Commerce Committee Amid Disney-ABC Controversy 
Paramount Skydance Eyes Streamlined Merger with Warner Bros Discovery Amid $60 Billion Offer Rejection 
Trump Proposes Two-Year Shutdown of Kennedy Center Amid Ongoing Turmoil 
Trump Faces Mixed Reception at Kennedy Center Amid Conservative Overhaul 
Netflix’s Bid for Warner Bros Discovery Aims to Cut Streaming Costs and Reshape the Industry 
Mexico Probes Miss Universe President Raul Rocha Over Alleged Criminal Links 
Trump Threatens Legal Action Against Disney’s ABC Over Jimmy Kimmel’s Return 
Trump–Kushner Links Raise Concerns as Paramount Pushes $108B Warner Bros Discovery Bid 
Oscars 2025: who will likely win, who should win, and who barely deserves to be there 
Squid Game Finale Boosts Netflix Earnings, But Guidance Disappoints Investors 
“Empire” season 5 began with a huge mystery — someone is dead — and it will take a while before the audience gets all the answers. Meanwhile, Joss Stone is confirmed to guest-star in an upcoming episode.
The musical drama started a new installment with one explosive twist that involves someone’s death. While the identity of the person who died is unknown, Lucious (Terrence Howard) is visibly grieving over it in the “Empire” season 5 opener.
Showrunner Brett Mahoney explained to TVLine that Lucious is devastated because “in his mind … he feels some sort of culpability” for the mystery person’s death. Viewers will have to watch the entire “Empire” season 5 to learn all about this loss.
Mahoney confirmed that they will only reveal all the answers to the who, what, when, why, and how questions about this death in the last episode of “Empire” season 5. Since there will be 18 episodes, that big reveal is slated to occur in 2019. But the showrunner teased that “flash-forwards will play intermittently,” so fans can play connect the dots until such time that an official answer is provided.
Since it is still very early in “Empire” season 5, it is still difficult to tell who could be in that closed coffin. When Mahoney was asked whether or not this dead character is significant to the franchise, the showrunner said he can only hope that the identity reveal “will be satisfying.” But interestingly, Mahoney admitted that whoever is portraying the dead character had not been informed yet at the time the show premiered on Sept. 26.
Meanwhile, Jamal (Jussie Smollett) will receive a surprise visit in an upcoming episode of “Empire” season 5. His visitor, named Wynter, will be portrayed by singer-songwriter Joss Stone. Wynter’s visit is connected to Jamal’s recent decision to leave everything behind to be with his family in New York.
In the second episode of “Empire” season 5, fans saw Jamal suddenly leaving Kai (Toby Onwumere) and their music label. And Wynter is one of the artists with their careers hanging in the balance because of Jamal’s decision.
It is still unclear in which episode Stone is exactly appearing but it will reportedly air sometime in November. New episodes of “Empire” season 5 air every Wednesday, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
