Spoilers for Empire season 4 below.
Anika Calhoun (Grace Byers) was a formidable player inEmpirefor years, but all her scheming and plotting came back to bite her in the end. First appearing in theEmpirepilot, Anika was a debutante from New Orleans, Louisiana, andwas dating Lucious Lyon(Terrence Howard) at the beginning of the series. However, when she discovered Lucious in bed with his ex-wife Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), her love for Lucious turned to hate mixed with obsession. Though Lucious did eventually propose to Anika, she instead took up with his son, Hakeem (Bryshere Gray).
For the rest ofEmpire, or at least the rest of the time she spent on the show,Anika plotted the downfall of Empire Entertainment, failed at it, plotted again, and failed again, in a constant cycle that made her more and more unlikeable throughout the series. Grace Byers' performance of Anika is excellent, of course, and despite how miserable the character becomes, it’s hard not to look away from her thanks to Byers' electric and committed acting. Anika"Boo Boo Kitty" ended up getting what she deserved, but it was a wild ride to get there.
Anika Dies In The Empire Season 4 Finale
Andre Drugs Anika At An Investor Event
In the season 4 finale ofEmpire, episode 18, “The Empire Unpossess’d”, which aired on July 16, 2025, several characters meet their untimely ends, though one’s fate is not revealed until the next season. The beginning of season 4 finds Anika in jail after being framed for the murder of Lucious' half-brother, Tariq Cousins (Morocco Omari). She gets out of prison and gains custody of her and Hakeem’s daughter, Bella, but she quickly loses it when Hakeem threatens to expose her wrongdoing, specifically that she had a hand in Bella’s kidnapping.
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Instead of learning from her time on the inside and dealing with the suffering she’s caused, Anika tries once more to bring down the Lyons and Empire Entertainment. This time around, she teams up with Eddie Barker (Forest Whitaker). However, everything unravels for Anika in the season 4 finale. She and Eddie nearly gain control of Empire Entertainment and Anika and Andre (Trai Byers) seemingly call a truce.
Trai Byers and Grace Byers are married in real life.
This is a fakeout on Andre’s part, however, and before Anika is set to speak at an investor meeting, Andre slips powdered pills into her drink. As she’s speaking, Anika begins feeling a sense of euphoria which quickly dissolves into paranoia when she has hallucinations of the deceased Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) stalking after her. In her drug-induced panic,Anika stumbles over a balcony and plummets many floors below, crashing through a glass table in full view of everyone. It’s a dramatic end for a dramatic character.
Anika’s Death Came At The Right Time For The Show
After four seasons of revenge, failure, and plotting,the end of season 4 was the right time for Anika to exit the series. Her proximity to the family meant she was always going to have to be close to the story while she lived, but at the same time, as the villain, she would constantly need to be against the Lyons. While this is a fascinating dynamic for a few seasons, it threatens to get implausible if it goes on for too long.
Anika had done some pretty horrible things over the course ofEmpire, but killing Rhonda Lyon (Kaitlin Doubleday) and her unborn child to secure Bella’s status as the only Lyon heir, is probably the most awful. That she had not really been punished for her crime and that Rhonda’s husband, Andre, never got his revenge, always meant that Anika’s time on the show was short. Her death at the end of season 4 also mirrors Rhonda’s as Anika pushed her off a balcony when she killed her. In a way,Anika’s death was both Andre and Rhonda’s revenge.
The Meaning Of Anika’s Fate In Empire
Anika’s Death Meant The End Of One Of The Lyons' Biggest Enemies
Anika’s death is the first to happen to a main character inEmpiresince Rhonda’s, ironic considering Anika’s role in that murder. It’s a major moment in the series that at one point positioned Anika as a major player in the show. The writing was on the wall with the character, however, and her refusal to back down, even after being humiliated and sent to jail, indicated thatthere was only ever going to be one way to stop Anika for good.
Yes, the Lyons lost control of their company, but at least one of their most personal and formidable enemies is gone, and they can begin picking up the pieces of their life.
It’s notable that Anika’s death happens during the first meeting after Kelly Patel buys Empire Entertainment. The first thing the shareholders see of the new owners is one suddenly suffering a drug-induced panic attack and throwing herself off a balcony. Not a great start for the new management. Anika’s death also allows something of a reset for the show, and season 5 picks up two years later. Yes, the Lyons lost control of their company, but at least one of their most personal and formidable enemies is gone, and they can begin picking up the pieces of their life.
Showrunner Brett Mahoney Knew It Was Time For The Character To Go
When it came to Anika’s death,Empireshowrunner, Brett Mahoney, toldTVLinehis thoughts,
“I feel like Anika’s storyline had reached its [conclusion]. She achieved what she wanted to over the course of the series, from first wanting Lucious and then just wanting Empire. She got everything she wished for, but it came at a great price. Karma finally caught up with her. She ascended to the throne but then she had to pay for everything she had done in the past.”
Anika played the game ofEmpirehard and fast. Sometimes she won, and sometimes she lost, but her concern only for herself ended up being her undoing. There were plenty of times she could have stopped, but she chose not to and ended up paying for all the trouble she’d caused across four seasons. Though Andre was ultimately responsible for killing Anika, Mahoney made it clear that it was unintentional,
“Obviously, the rivalry between Anika and Cookie was [legendary] and we wanted them to have that moment in the restaurant where Anika finally wins a confrontation with Cookie. But in terms of who she aggrieved the most? It was Andre. She took his wife. Took his kid. And Andre had made a promise to Rhonda to take her down, and that’s what he did. Now, Andre didn’tintentionallykill her. He just wanted to f— up what was going on with that press conference. He wanted to embarrass her. He could not have predicted she was going to die.”
Though Andre may have drugged Anika,it was her regrets that sent her plummeting over the side of the balcony. Grace Byers seems to agree that Anika had her death coming, saying about some of the things her character did on the show (viaJemeleHill),
“If Anika does this there’s literally, no coming back from that you guys.”
Anika Calhoun had quite a run onEmpireand her intense exit from the series in season 4 was well-earned and fitting for such an explosive character.
Empire
Cast
Empire is a musical drama series that follows a father who acts as the CEO of Empire Entertainment, a major hip-hop record label, and his family. When Lucious Lyon discovers he is diagnosed with ALS, he realizes his time is short, and he must find a successor to his empire. Forcing his three sons to compete with one another to earn the right, what follows is a vicious journey of power and control - only complicated further by his ex-wife’s entry into the fray.
