Lucious to Get Rid of Anika in Fox Network's 'Empire'?

By Jilianne Arbonida, Christian Post Contributor Friday, February 10, 2017

Lucious (Terrence Howard) is prepared to let go of his wife, Anika (Grace Gealey), to win Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) again in the second half of the current season of "Empire."

Fans of the series got their first glimpse of what is to come in season 3B via the explosive teaser released during the Super Bowl. In the promo, Lucious and Cookie cannot seem to keep their hands off each other. There is even a scene when Anika sees them in bed together. Lucious' current wife looks like she is going to cry after seeing how her husband is cheating on her. The last few episodes saw marked improvement in the couple's intimacy, which made Anika believe that their marriage might actually work. What she has yet to realize is that Lucious will always have that special bond with Cookie.

Lucious married Anika to prevent her from testifying against him. Cookie was heartbroken at the time but she soon learned to divert her attention from all the family drama. When she met Angelo (Taye Diggs), she allowed herself another chance to be happy. Lucious, however, was not willing to let go of her that easily. He took advantage of the information he got from Angelo's mother, Diana (Phylicia Rashad), and sought to discredit the politician in Cookie's eyes.

Executive producer Sanaa Hamri explained in a December interview that Lucious' goal is to win back Cookie, no matter what it takes. Will this mean dropping Anika?

"Obviously, they have a strong bond and Lucious loves Cookie and he does not want her to be with any other man. I think that he is going to try to come in between her and Angelo even more so because Angelo is reminiscent of Barry, her high school sweetheart, who he had taken Cookie away from. So I think Lucious is very aware that Angelo is very much a probable candidate of the last people that she's been with. I feel like he'll do anything to break them up," the EP said, according to Variety.

"Empire" season 3 will return in March 22, 9 p.m. EST on Fox.