Grace Gealey attends the 'AltaMed Power Up, We Are The Future' gala held on May 12, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Michael Kovac)
Aired on Sept. 21, Wednesday, the Season 3 premiere of the Fox TV series "Empire" featured Rhonda's (Kaitlin Doubleday) death following her balcony fight with Anika (Grace Gealey). Recently, Gealey shared her thoughts on the said scene while showrunner Ilene Chaiken teased of the challenges that await Anika.
Many viewers were shocked when the first few scenes of "Empire" Season 3 premiere featured the death of Rhonda. The dramatic opening addressed the cliffhanger Season 2 finale episode where Rhonda and Anika fought perilously close to the edge of a balcony. In an interview with E! News, Gealey commented that she felt torn on how the said storyline turned out.
Although Gealey understood that Rhonda's death was a necessary story development for the Fox series, she said she also felt conflicted about her co-star's future in the show. She shared how she would have wanted both her and Doubleday to remain in the series, but after some time, she learned to deal with the situation.
With the show's writers ability to handle previous murder scenarios in the Fox series, Gealey commented that earlier murder plots were effectively covered up, such as the Rhonda-Vernon murder scenario. The actress wondered whether or not the writers will do a similar cover-up with the Rhonda and Anika murder storyline.
In another interview with TVLine, Chaiken hinted that Anika will soon suffer the consequences of having pushed Rhonda off the balcony. Chaiken teased of Anika's predicament and the character's new life living among the Lyons. The showrunner also made mention of the "uncomfortable" interactions between Anika, Lucious (Terrence Howard), Andre (Trai Byers) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson).
According to Chaiken, viewers may see Rhonda in future episodes after "Empire" Season 3 episode 1 featured Doubleday's character as a ghost when she appeared in Andre's hallucination.
"Empire" Season 3 airs every Wednesday on Fox. Watch the trailer for episode 2, which is set to air on Sept. 28:
