Empire is an American musical drama created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Although it is filmed in Chicago, the show is set in New York. Premise: Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is a hip hop mogul, former drug dealer, and CEO of Empire Entertainment. Informed of his own imminent early death from a certain medical condition, Lucious is forced to choose from amongst his progeny, a successor who will control his dynasty after his demise. He begins working to groom one of his three sons to take over the family business – Empire CFO Andre (Trai Byers), R&B singer-songwriter Jamal (Jussie Smollett), and rapper Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) – In the process, Lucious pits them against each other. Lucious' ex-wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) is released from prison after serving a 17-year sentence, and also pulls for control of both the company and of her sons. The second season primarily focuses on the competition between Lyon Dynasty, formed and headed by Cookie, and Empire.
