Season One

Season One is the first season of the FOX television series Empire. The premiere aired on January 7th and the series finale airs on an unknown date.

On January 17th Fox announced the series was renewed for a second season.

Summary
From Academy Award nominee Lee Daniels (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Precious”) and Emmy Award winner Danny Strong (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Game Change”), comes EMPIRE, a sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne. LUCIOUS LYON (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”) is the king of hip-hop. An immensely talented artist, the CEO of Empire Entertainment and a former street thug, his reign has been unchallenged for years. But all that changes, when he learns he has a disease that is going to render him crippled and incapacitated in a matter of three years. The clock is ticking, and he must groom one of his three sons to take over his crowning achievement, without destroying his already fractured family.

Lucious’ favorite is his youngest son, HAKEEM (newcomer Bryshere Gray), a gifted musician and a spoiled playboy who values fame over hard work. The middle son, JAMAL (Jussie Smollett, “North,” “The Mighty Ducks”), is a sensitive soul and a musical prodigy who, unlike Hakeem, shies away from the spotlight. Jamal also happens to be gay, which infuriates and embarrasses his father. ANDRE (Trai Byers, “90210”), the eldest son, is CFO of Empire Entertainment. Wharton-educated with a brilliant business mind, Andre lacks the charisma that Lucious believes is crucial to running the company. But in his quest for power, Andre is assisted by his manipulative and like-minded wife, RHONDA (Kaitlin Doubleday, “Hung,” “Catch Me If You Can”).

Recurring Cast

 * Naomi Campbell as Camilla
 * Rafael de La Fuente as Michael Sanchez
 * Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Dwayne "Puma" Robinson
 * Nealla Gordon as Agent Harlow Carter
 * Macy Gray as Tasha
 * Ta'Rhonda Jones as Porsha
 * Courtney Love as Elle Dallas
 * Serayah as Tiana Brown
 * Gabourey Sidibe as Becky Williams
 * Tasha Smith as Carol Hardaway

Episodes
See : Episode Guide

Production and Development
The pilot was filmed in March 2014 in Chicago. After that the series was picked up (May 6th) and announced as midseason (May 12th) by the Fox Broadcasting Company.

Brain Grazer, Lee Daniels, Danny Strong and Francie Calfo act as executive producers and Ilene Chaiken is the showrunner.The show is written by Strong and Daniels makes his television directorial debut. The producers hinted the 'King Lear' inspiration to go along with some ideas from 'Lion in Winter'.

Music
For the music aspect of the show, Lee Daniels contacted mega producer Timbaland, who is known for big hits with the industry's biggest artists. Timbaland gets the plot ideas from the writing team, and then goes to craft songs to fit the storylines.

Despite Fox' previous musical hit 'Glee', the music in Empire is very based with performances as part of the organic flow alike the show 'Nashville', resulting in a show where the story drives the music and not the other way around.

Every episode will have several songs that will be released as a weekly soundtrack on iTunes.