Jussie Smollett: With criminal charges dropped, is his career ruined or can he recover?

Now what, Jussie Smollett?

In the space of two months, the "Empire" star, 36, has gone from crime victim to indicted crime suspect and back to victim again, now claiming total exoneration after Chicago prosecutors abandoned their case against him Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chicago police and Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued to shout angrily about his alleged guilt.

Cook County prosecutors are not explaining why they did what they did, so the public is still in the dark about what happened and why. Officially, Smollett's record is expunged but there's already a history of police leaks in the case, so the public schadenfreude surrounding him is likely to linger. And the FBI is still investigating one aspect of the case.

So where does the Smollett go from here? Back to "Empire"? Quietly into the night? We explore some possibilities:

First things first: 'Empire' is over, until the fall.

There will be no resolution for "Empire" fans in the near future. The Fox drama wrapped Season 5 in mid-March after writing Smollett out of the final two episodes. With production dark and the show on hiatus until the fall, courtroom drama will stay off the "Empire" set.

But writers will reconvene in June to plot out Season 6 storylines. Will they include Smollett's character, Jamal Lyon, the gay son of Cookie and Lucius? Yes, since he has a standard six-year contract. If Fox still decides to cut him even after the charges were dropped, it could cost them.