Empire Returns To Reign On FOX

Empire Reigns Christopher Fragapane/FOX; Cr: Chuck Hodes/FOX
Hear Them Roar L-R: (Bottom Row) Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Bryshere Gray as Hakeem Lyon and Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon (Top Row) Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon. Image Credit: James Dimmock/FOX.

 

Empire Reigns
Hear Them Roar L-R: (Bottom Row) Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Bryshere Gray as Hakeem Lyon and Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon (Top Row) Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon.
Image Credit: James Dimmock/FOX.

When Empire premiered on FOX in January 2015, it burst into America’s living rooms and consciousness with raw and riveting storytelling set within the glamorous and dangerous world of hip-hop music, and the series quickly became the No. 1 drama on TV. The delicious soap found Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) revealing he’s not dying of ALS; he was misdiagnosed, and he proceeded to dole out a jet to Hakeem, a foundation to Dre and his empire to Jamal, before getting arrested for Bunkie’s murder. The best action, however, was Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Anika (Grace Gealey) having one serious hair-pulling smackdown.

Empire Reigns
One Tough Cookie.
Image Credit: Christopher Fragapane/FOX

Three months after his shocking arrest and incarceration, Lucious is trying to run Empire from inside federal lockup. Cookie stages a star-studded #FreeLucious concert in his support, while scheming with Andre, Hakeem, Anika and the business-savvy Mimi Whiteman (guest star Marisa Tomei) to finalize the hostile takeover of Empire. Henson says that the show’s meteoric rise to success isn’t changing the cast’s hunger for great storytelling. “We continue to focus on what I think is important; we just focus on what we’ve been doing. And that’s challenging our audience to think, and not playing it safe, by telling the truth.” But the actress jokes about the riveting storylines the writers have given her character, “They’re pushing me. They’re pushing me in ways that make me drink wine every night.”

Emmy nominee Henson shares that one way Season 2 is moving forward is by looking at Cookie’s past, particularly her incarceration. “What was that 17 years like in prison, being away from her boys and her family that she loves so much?” Henson reveals that she’s been binge-watching episodes of prison-set Orange Is the New Black and pushed to explore that aspect of her character’s life. “I’m like, yeah, we need to find out what happened to Cookie when she was in jail,” she says. “I think it’s important to know; she’s so ‘family first,’ and to be away from your family for 17 years, under those kinds of conditions, what does that do to a human?”

Empire has become a go-to place for eye-popping musical performances and incredible guest stars, and co-creator and executive producer Lee Daniels hints that there’s more of that to come. “If we can bedazzle you with a little Denzel, a little Oprah, whatever, that’s, I mean, that’s OK, you know. But I think that I got to stick to family. The family is what the story is about.” And while neither Oprah Winfrey nor Denzel Washington are as yet signed on for a guest-starring role, Daniels did confirm that Pitbull and Mariah Carey will make appearances.

Empire > FOX > Wednesdays at 9pm ET beginning Sept. 23

Related Empire News:
5 Questions with Taraji P. Henson
5 Questions with Jussie Smollett

 

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