The 'Empire' Successor Is Named

Well, there you have it. At least for now. On the Empire Season 1 finale, Lucious discovered he didn't have ALS and thanks to the miracle, he apparently had a change of heart about his family and decided to name his successor before the IPO anyway. In a move that would have shocked me in every previous Empire episode, Lucious chose Jamal as his successor. Despite weeks of Lucious basically trying to train and mold Hakeem in his own image to one day take over the Empire, after some big moves and changes in opinions, Jamal ended up with the throne. But it looks like not everyone is on board with this, as Hakeem and Anika are looking into a hostile takeover, and have even looped Cookie and Andre into their plan.

Jamal fought for the Empire by originally helping his father to create a new, gritty song when Lucious was struggling with writer's block. Then he went to a Creedmoor party and threatened Billy Berretti by pushing half his body off a balcony until he agreed to sign over Lucious' masters of his old songs so he could use them for his upcoming legend concert. Basically, Jamal proved that he could be a killer, and that he possesses some of the negative qualities displayed by his father. But Hakeem realized how much he wanted the throne and tried to convince Andre to help him with the hostile takeover. At first Andre told Hakeem to accept that Jamal had won, but started to have a change of heart.

One of Empire's artists, Black Rambo, protested against Jamal's being instated as the future leader of the company. And while Lucious originally wanted to put out a statement essentially saying "Bigotry has no place in the company and we welcome his departure," Andre knew doing this would alienate many customers that would help make the IPO a success. Andre's advice was not well-received by Lucious or Jamal, to which Andre asked "Is Empire now the cult of Jamal?"

Andre then called his youngest brother to start the hostile takeover process. Things are getting real dark in the Lyon family, and it breaks my heart to see Jamal pushing his brothers away for the sake of the company, power, and the father that never accepted him. Eve though Lucious says he accepts Jamal now, I just can't see that being the case. I just have this strong feeling that in the end, Lucious will throw Jamal under the bus.

Images: Chuck Hodes/Fox; Giphy