‘Empire’ Season 3 Spoilers: Who Dies, Who’s Fighting, And More

How can Empire Season 3 possibly top the brutal fight in the Season 2 finale?

The Empire Season 2 cliffhanger episode ended with Rhonda, Lucious Lyon’s daughter-in-law, locked in a tense brawl with Anika, Lucious’ conniving wife. Rhonda, having deduced that Anika pushed her down a flight of stairs and caused her miscarriage, attempts to strangle Anika while the pair lean precariously over the roof’s edge. The tense scene ends with Andre Lyon, Rhonda’s husband and heir to the Lyon empire, witnessing one (or both) of them fall and screaming “No!”

So, who fell at the end of Empire Season 2? Well, we can guarantee that at least one of the two women fell. Empire showrunner Ilene Chaiken told TVLine that the fight will most likely have deadly consequences. Chaiken at first played coy to a question about whether the Empire women would die, then got straight to the point.

“It sure as hell looks that way. All we have to go on right now is the sound of that scream and the look on Andre’s face — and that, to me, says somebody went over that railing. And it would be ludicrous to say that would be a survivable fall… we love [Rhonda and Anika] — and it’s hard to think about losing either one of them. In this instance, there’s no character motivation to consider: One of them is simply going to win the fight, and the other is likely to be gone.”

The Empire Season 3 premiere, therefore, will feature the characters grappling with the loss of either Anika or Rhonda.

However, while Chaiken tried to keep the identity of the dead character a secret, Empire executive producer Sanna Hamri wasn’t quite so tight-lipped.

Movie News Guide reported that the Empire producer confessed that “Andre is going to witness a death that’s going to deeply affect him.” Andre has no particular emotional connection to Anika, but his passionate marriage to Rhonda and attempts to start a family with her have been a centerpiece of Empire since Season 1.

Kaitlin Doubleday, the actor playing Rhonda, has given no hints as to whether or not her role in Empire has changed. She posted an image to her personal Instagram of herself in character as Rhonda, but the image was a promotional still instead of a photograph of her from the Empire set.

If it’s true that Anika succeeds in pushing Rhonda off the roof, then Andre Lyon is in for his most tortured season of Empire yet. That’s saying a lot — in the first two seasons of Empire, Andre has already suffered from suicidal tendencies, intense mental illness, and Rhonda’s miscarriage of their child.

The trouble won’t be over for Anika if she wins her fight with Rhonda. Anika has been a villain since Empire Season 1, and has already made enemies of Cookie and Hakeem Lyon. Her new husband, Lucious, won’t be much help if the family turns on her; at the end of Empire Season 2, he reveals to Anika that he’s aware of her role in Rhonda’s miscarriage. “I know you pushed her,” Lucious tells Anika at their wedding.

And where does Anika stand with the rest of the Lyons in the Empire Season 3 premiere?

She has her work cut out for her if she wants to make amends with Cookie Lyon, Lucious’ ex-wife. Cookie is still devastated and betrayed from Lucious’ sudden marriage to Anika at the end of Empire Season 2. Even though Entertainment Tonight reported that Empire Season 3 will potentially feature Taye Diggs as a new love interest for Cookie, loyal viewers will remember that Cookie is able to hold grudges for quite a long time. Say, the length of a 17-year jail sentence?

The queen of #Empire is back. ? @TherealTaraji pic.twitter.com/GNSLDn87BJ

— Empire (@EmpireTVSeries) September 7, 2016

Notably, a trailer for Empire Season 3 released a few weeks ago entitled “Kill Or Be Killed” does not show either Anika or Rhonda. It does, however, show guest star Mariah Carey, as well as images of lavish nightclub performances and chilling police brutality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYMeQ9Lbjd4&ab_channel=Empire

Empire Season 3 premieres Wednesday, September 21. Will you be catching the Empire Season 3 premiere to see who dies and what happens next?

[Featured Image by FOX]