Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney on filming season six without actor Jussie Smollett

Fox Entertainment had on 30 April announced that Jussie Smollett, will not be returning as Jamal Lyon in the sixth season of Empire. Now showrunner Brett Mahoney has addressed the controversy around the actor's exit from the show in an interview with Variety.[caption id="attachment_6125901" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Jussie Smollett. The Associated Press[/caption]"I haven’t convened with the writers yet — we haven’t started breaking what Season 6 will be — but it will require an adjustment in terms of him not being there in the first episodes," Mahoney told the publication.Fox had not stated the reason behind Smollett's absence from the upcoming season. However, the actor's representative had released a statement to several media outlets suggesting a hope that he may eventually return to Empire.Smollett's character was also removed from the final two episodes of season five, according to The Associated Press.Chicago police allege Smollett paid two brothers to help him stage a January attack in which he said two masked men beat him, hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, doused him with a chemical substance and put a rope around his neck. Smollett, who is black and gay, maintains the attack wasn't staged. He was arrested, but prosecutors later dropped the charges.Empire also stars Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon, Taraji P Henson as Cookie Lyon and Bryshere Y Gray as Hakeem Lyon.