Season 3 of “Empire” premiered Wednesday night with a big reveal about a character’s death.
Fans of the show were left with a cliffhanger at the end of Season 2, as Anika (Grace Gealey) and Rhonda (Kaitlyn Doubleday) tussled at the edge of a high-rise balcony. One of them fell, but we didn’t know who.
Now we know: It was Rhonda who took the fatal tumble.
Fans on social media mourned her demise.
“Empire” showrunner Ilene Chaiken told The Hollywood Reporter that because both of the actors and their characters are beloved, choosing who would die was tough as “it was an inconceivable to us that either one of them wouldn’t be in the show.”
“But we knew that somebody died on that balcony in that moment and so we just had to look and say, “Who? Who died?” Chaiken said. “And this was the story.”
It may help fans to know that while her character Anika survived, actress Grace Gealey is sad about the loss of Rhonda, too.
“I think ultimately if I had to choose a word it would definitely be bittersweet,” Gealey told E!. “I miss Kaitlyn being here, so it’s hard.”