Jussie Smollett may return to Empire for final season after being axed over 'hoax' attack scandal as show boss admits it would be 'weird to end the series without seeing him'
- Smollett may return to Empire as bosses have revealed they are considering bringing the actor back during the show's sixth and final season
- Actor, 37, was axed in season five after he was accused of fabricating a racist and homophobic attack by Nigerian-descent brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo
- He was charged by a grand jury with 16 felony counts of lying to police but all of the charges were sensationally dropped by SA Kim Foxx's office
- Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney told TVLine that discussions are underway to possibly have Jussie return as it would be 'weird' to end the show without him
- He said: 'It’s fair to say it’s being discussed, but there’s no plan as of yet to bring him back. There’s been no decision made.'
Jussie Smollett may be returning to Empire as bosses have revealed they are considering bringing the actor back during the show's sixth and final season.
The actor, 37, was axed from the drama in season five after he claimed to have been attacked by two men who hurled racist and homophobic abuse at him and was then accused of fabricating the accusation and charged with making a false police report.
Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney told TVLine that discussions are underway to possibly have Jussie return as it would be 'weird' to end the show without him.
Comeback: Jussie Smollett, 37, may be returning to Empire as show bosses have revealed they are considering bringing the actor back for the show's final season (pictured in January 2019)
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He said: 'It would be weird in my mind to end this family show and this family drama of which he was such a significant part of without seeing him.
'It’s fair to say it’s being discussed, but there’s no plan as of yet to bring him back. There’s been no decision made.'
Bosses considering a potential comeback for the actor is a change from when Empire creator Lee Daniels insisted last June that Jussie would never return to the program.
After a previous report that the actor was going to be brought back in the latter half of season six, Lee tweeted: 'Jussie will NOT be returning to Empire.'
Claims: Jussie was axed after he claimed to have been attacked by two men who hurled racist and homophobic abuse at him and was then accused of fabricating the accusation
Although the charges brought against Jussie were dropped, the actor was axed from the show with his final episode seeing his character Jamal marrying Kai.
In January, Jussie claimed he was attacked as he walked home to his apartment in subzero temperatures by two unidentified assailants with 'light' skin who he claimed called him a 'f****t' and the N word.
After spending weeks investigating it, the Chicago Police Department stunned the public by stating it had been a hoax.
They claimed Jussie ordered the brothers to attack him and that he planned to use it as leverage to get a higher salary on Empire.
Return: Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney told TVLine that discussions are underway to possibly have Jussie return as it would be 'weird' to end the show without him
He was charged by a grand jury with 16 felony counts of lying to police but all of the charges were sensationally dropped by SA Kim Foxx's office.
In exchange, Jussie did community service and paid $10,000 (£7,600). Foxx had been in touch with members of his family and had even semi-recused herself from the case by the time the deal was reached.
The Chief of Police, Eddie Johnson, and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel were blindsided by the deal and later sued Jussie to try to get back some of the money they say was wasted investigating the allegedly bogus crime.
In November, Jussie sued the City of Chicago, the brothers he is accused of paying to attack him, and the Chicago Police Department Chief claiming they all lied about him allegedly staging the incident.
Smollett was charged by a grand jury with 16 felony counts of lying to police but all of the charges were sensationally dropped by SA Kim Foxx's office
Mahoney said: 'It would be weird in my mind to end this family show and this family drama of which he was such a significant part of without seeing him' (pictured in February 2019)
The actor's attorneys filed their lawsuit as a counterclaim to the city's ongoing efforts to get him to pay for their investigation into the attack.
In it, he admitted being friends with Nigerian-descent brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo and even spending time with them in the days before the incident but insisted it was because he planned to take a nutrition program at Abel's direction.
Jussie's counterclaim - in response to the city demanding that he repay $130,000 (£99,100) in overtime - is against the brothers, the city, Chicago PD Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Detective Edward Wodnicki and ten other unnamed people.
In the 50-page lawsuit, he repeatedly denied orchestrating the attack or paying the brothers for it, and said the city charged him 'without probable cause', 'maliciously' and 'in bad faith'.
He is asking for unspecified damages to be determined by a jury.
The actor, 37, was axed in season five after he was accused of fabricating a racist and homophobic attack by Nigerian-descent brothers Abel (left) and Ola Osundairo (right)
'Aside from the substantial reputational harm the Osundairo Brothers’ false statements have caused him, Mr. Smollett has also suffered and continues to suffer substantial economic losses, including but not limited to lost employment opportunities and mounting legal fees, as well as severe mental anguish and distress.
'Mr. Smollett must also defend against the instant case by the City for investigative costs in a case in which he was the victim of a crime,' his lawyers wrote.
In January, Jussie claimed he was attacked as he walked home to his apartment in subzero temperatures by two unidentified assailants with 'light' skin who he claimed called him a 'f****t' and the N word
The brothers were seen on surveillance footage buying masks prior to the alleged hoax attack
Jussie takes aim at the police department for leaks about the investigation which he said were all false and says Chief Superintendent Eddie Johhnson went out of his way to perpetuate a 'false narrative'
The actor said the entire case is based on the brothers' confession and that it is unreliable because, he said, they lied to save themselves from prosecution.
Listing the dozens of allegations leveled against him by the department, he admitted and denied them variously.
Jussie said it was true that he knew the brothers but insisted he did not pay them to attack him, saying instead that a $3,500 (£2,700) check he gave Abel was for personal training and nutrition.
He also offered an explanation for one of the most suspicious text messages he sent Abel in the days before the attack - where he asked to discuss something face to face, 'on the low' - saying he wanted to talk about him bringing illegal herbal steroids back from Nigeria for him.
Axed: Although the charges brought against Jussie were dropped, the actor was axed from the show in season five (pictured in December 2018)
Police used the text as purported proof of his intention to discuss the hoax plot.
He also said that cops ignored the 'loose ends' in their story for the same purpose.
One such loose end, he wrote, is that the police department said Smollett told them not to bring their cell phones to the attack and that they 'complied', but that a taxi driver and an Uber driver who transported them that night said they had phones and were using them.
The actor's lawyers said that the notion Jussie had staged the attack came from only two places; untrust worthy websites and the brothers, under the instruction of their lawyer, Gloria Schmidt.
He claimed that once they fed it to the cops, the police department worked to try to find evidence to support the theory and ignored all evidence that Smollett may be innocent.
The brothers, he said, only confessed to it after 47 hours of being held in custody because they were afraid they were about to be charged themselves.
Police could legally only hold them for 48 hours without charging or releasing them.
'The “eleventh hour” change in the Osundairo Brothers’ story, stating that they had been involved in the attack on Mr. Smollett, and that the attack was a hoax orchestrated by Mr. Smollett, was false and self-serving to avoid criminal charges being filed against them, which was clearly not reliable,' the lawsuit reads.
Smollett said it was inappropriate that they were not individually interviewed and he said it was their lawyer who gave them the idea to blame him.
He also claimed that he 'does not know' if the brothers were even involved.
'To this day, Mr. Smollett does not know what involvement, if any, the Osundairo Brothers had in the attack on him on January 29, 2019,' the lawsuit reads.
Smollett also said that when the State's Attorney dropped the charges against him, the case should have been closed.
As part of the agreement, he paid $10,000 which he said is sufficient reimbursement for the city.
