Updated: June 5 / 2019

After a long battle of legal affairs with Empire star Jussie Smollett, it’s now confirmed by the series creator that he will not be returning to the Fox drama for its sixth and final season.

The statement came from the series creator, Lee Daniels after a media report implied that Smollett would indeed be returning for the sixth season of the show.

“This is not factual. Jussie will NOT be returning to Empire,” Daniels made public in a tweet to Variety after it reported an “exclusive” headlined “‘Empire’ writers prepping for Jussie Smollett’s return in Season 6.”

The drama that stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard will be ending after the sixth season.

Apparently, Smollett was written out of the final episodes of the show’s fifth season after the allegations sparked attention that he faked a hate crime against himself in January this year. However, just because the studio did not include him in the series, many speculate that they had left it open for the possibility of his return to the show that he has been a part of since 2015.

In April, Daniels claimed that Smollett’s fate was still being considered. “There are only two judges — God and that man that wears a robe. And I cannot judge. I can only have compassion,” he said at the time.

Smollett was charged with multiple felony counts after allegedly coning the Chicago police into believing he was a target and victim of a hate crime in January.