50 Fun Facts About Empire (TV Series)

Which Shakespeare tragedy about an aging ruler and his heirs was a model for Empire's Lyon family saga?

King Lear was the template: a dying music mogul tests his three sons much as Shakespeare's old king tests three daughters. One critic called the show the play retold with hip hop as the backdrop.

Empire's story unfolds in New York, but in which Midwestern city was the Fox drama actually filmed?

Chicago doubled for New York throughout the run. The pilot was shot at the city's Cinespace studios in March 2014, two months before Fox ordered a full series.

On Empire, which mocking nickname does Cookie Lyon give Anika Calhoun, her rival for Lucious?

Boo Boo Kitty became Cookie's standing insult for Anika, the polished label executive engaged to Lucious when Cookie came home. The feud lasted until Anika's fatal fall in the season four finale.

Which actress plays Cookie Lyon, the Empire matriarch who leaves prison to claim half the family label?

Taraji P. Henson took the part only because her manager sent the script anyway: she had sworn off television, and said the character scared her when she first read it.

Which condition does eldest son Andre Lyon, the finance chief of Empire Entertainment, struggle with?

Bipolar disorder was settled on after showrunner Ilene Chaiken pushed the creators to define what they had planned only as some form of mental illness. Andre's actor studied a relative who lives with it.

Empire's first soundtrack album debuted at number one in March 2015, beating Rebel Heart by which pop superstar?

Madonna actually sold more albums that week, but streaming of the show's songs pushed the cast recording past her on the Billboard 200.

Which animated Fox series spoofed Empire in The Great Phatsby, an hour-long episode with a Cookie-like ex-wife?

The Simpsons cast Empire's own leading lady as Praline, the furious ex-wife of a hip-hop mogul who swindles Mr. Burns. It was promoted as the cartoon's first hour-long episode.

The actor behind Empire mogul Lucious Lyon first played James Rhodes in which 2008 Marvel superhero film?

Iron Man was his only outing as Rhodey: he was reportedly offered a steep pay cut for the sequel, and another actor took over the role.

Which hit-making producer did Lee Daniels hire, on his own children's advice, to create Empire's original songs?

Timbaland got the call because Daniels thought his own taste was dated and asked his son and daughter whom to hire. Twelve songs were produced for the pilot alone, and he stayed for two seasons.

What forced Empire to end its sixth and final season two episodes early in 2020, with its planned finale unfilmed?

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down filming in March 2020, so episode 18 became the finale, with footage from the unfinished nineteenth cut in to give the Lyons some closure.

Which Oscar-nominated actor plays Lucious Lyon, the rapper-turned-mogul who founded Empire Entertainment?

Terrence Howard was pushed for the part by Cookie's actress, a former co-star who said she would turn down her own role without him.

Cookie Lyon returns home in Empire's pilot after a 17-year prison sentence for which crime?

Drug dealing paid for Lucious's first recordings, and Cookie took the fall alone. That is why she walks out demanding half of the company her money launched.

Which actor and singer plays Jamal Lyon, the gay middle son his father rejects on Empire?

Jussie Smollett co-wrote the song Jamal uses to come out on stage in season one. He was written out before the final season after being charged with filing a false police report.

Which ABC prime-time soap opera did Lee Daniels name as a major influence on the Lyon family feuds of Empire?

Dynasty gave Cookie part of her DNA: Daniels based her partly on Joan Collins's scheming Alexis, along with women in his own life such as his sister.

Empire's two leads had already played a couple in which 2005 film about a pimp who dreams of becoming a rapper?

Hustle & Flow earned its leading man an Oscar nomination, and a song the pair performed in it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. That history is why Cookie's actress lobbied for him.

Which award did Cookie Lyon's actress win in January 2016 for Empire, the third Black woman to take its drama prize?

Golden Globe voters named her best actress in a television drama, which only Gail Fisher and Regina Taylor had managed before her. The Emmys nominated her twice for Cookie without a win.

Which supermodel plays Camilla Marks, the older fashion designer who becomes Hakeem Lyon's secret lover on Empire?

Naomi Campbell's Camilla is paid by Lucious to leave the country, then returns in season two as the wife of a venture capitalist and seizes the company for Hakeem.

Which star of Lee Daniels's film Precious plays Becky Williams, Lucious Lyon's assistant at Empire Entertainment?

Gabourey Sidibe earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Precious, her first film. Her Becky climbs from the boss's assistant to head of A&R by season four.

Empire released its songs on iTunes every week, copying a strategy used by which earlier Fox musical series?

Glee supplied the release plan but not the style: the hip-hop drama's songs are performed by characters who are working artists, in studios and on stage, as the plot demands.

Which pop diva guest-starred in Empire's third season as a superstar singer who records with Jamal Lyon?

Mariah Carey had been promised a year earlier, when it was announced she would appear in a top-secret role during season two. She arrived a season late.

In Empire's first-season finale, Lucious Lyon learns his ALS was a misdiagnosis of which treatable condition?

Myasthenia gravis had been the plan since the very first pitch, the show's writer said, though one critic complained that the reprieve made a brave storyline meaningless.

Which cousin of Cookie Lyon does Lucious shoot dead in Empire's pilot after a $3 million blackmail demand?

Bunkie wanted the money for gambling debts. The killing haunts the whole first season: Lucious confesses to it in his sleep, and it gets him arrested at the finale's celebration concert.

In which East Coast city did Lucious and Cookie Lyon grow up and raise their sons before founding Empire?

Philadelphia is also the real hometown of Lee Daniels, who said Lucious is a lot like his own father. Jamal later takes Lucious back to the family's old house there.

Which stand-up comedian plays Frank Gathers, the crime boss Cookie Lyon once informed on, in Empire's second season?

Chris Rock was first announced as playing himself, before the producers revealed he would be the kingpin whose return from Cookie's past threatens her family.

Which actor, once Jonathan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created Empire with director Lee Daniels?

Danny Strong first imagined the story as a film while driving around Los Angeles, and it was Daniels who told him it belonged on television. He had already won an Emmy for writing HBO's Game Change.

Empire's third season ends with a car explosion in Las Vegas that leaves Lucious Lyon with which condition?

Amnesia strikes just as the family reunites, so Cookie runs the company as chief executive in season four while a nurse named Claudia tries to keep Lucious to herself.

Empire's pilot premiered in January 2015 straight after the season opener of which Fox reality show?

American Idol was the lead-in for a premiere that drew nearly 10 million viewers, Fox's highest-rated debut in three years. The audience then grew every week, reaching more than 17 million for the finale.

Which young rapper, taken under Lucious Lyon's wing on Empire, accidentally shoots Jamal in the second season?

Freda Gatz is the daughter of Frank Gathers, and Lucious treats her as a surrogate child after her father's murder. The shooting leaves Jamal with PTSD and a reliance on painkillers.

Which 1990s film star joined Empire as Claudia, the nurse who grows possessive of Lucious Lyon after his accident?

Demi Moore was announced in February 2017 for the season three finale and stayed on as a recurring guest through season four, where Cookie soon suspects the nurse's motives.

Andre Lyon, the only son on Empire without a music career, earned his business degree at which elite school?

Wharton made Andre the brains of the business: he is credited with lifting the label into the Fortune 500, and as the eldest he sees running it as his birthright.

Which actor plays Andre Lyon on Empire and married Grace Gealey, who played Anika Calhoun, in 2016?

Trai Byers had just played civil rights activist James Forman in Selma. He married his co-star in the Cayman Islands, where she was raised; on screen, his character later causes hers to fall to her death.

Which rapper, also known as Yazz the Greatest, made his acting debut as youngest son Hakeem Lyon on Empire?

Bryshere Y. Gray won the part with a video audition arranged by his manager, having never acted before. Two months after the premiere he had a solo record deal of his own.

Cookie Lyon's prison term on Empire was cut short because she secretly became an informant for which agency?

FBI agents return for their side of the bargain in season one, pressing Cookie to testify before a grand jury against the man she informed on. Lucious knows nothing of the deal.

Jamal Lyon never appears in Empire's final season; to which city are he and his husband Kai said to have moved?

London explained the absence after Fox dropped the character: Jamal is said to have settled there and adopted a baby boy, even though the actor's contract option for the season had been picked up.

Which star of Lee Daniels's film The Butler plays Eddie Barker, who wrests Empire away from Cookie and Lucious Lyon?

Forest Whitaker's Eddie Barker arrives as an old friend and music icon who helps Lucious make music again, then schemes to take the label. Season five opens two years after the Lyons lost Empire to him.

Which actor plays Angelo DuBois, the city councilman who romances Cookie Lyon in Empire's third season?

Taye Diggs's councilman turns from suitor to enemy: after the breakup Angelo joins his mother's plot against the Lyons and is killed in a struggle with Jamal.

Before Empire, Cookie Lyon's actress swore off television after leaving which crime drama in 2013?

Person of Interest had cast her as Joss Carter from 2011 to 2013. Afterward she declared herself done with TV, but her manager sent the script about the Lyons anyway.

Lucious Lyon's actor said he modeled the Empire mogul on characters from which 1972 crime film?

The Godfather supplied both poles of the performance: he said Lucious wants to be the controlled Michael Corleone but keeps getting stuck being the hot-headed Sonny.

Which former Disney Channel star plays Olivia, the ex-wife who tells Jamal Lyon on Empire that he has a daughter?

Raven-Symoné's Olivia sets up one of season one's biggest twists: the little girl, Lola, turns out to be the child of Lucious, not Jamal, a secret he admits with a gun pointed at the family.

In Empire's fifth-season finale, whose death provides the donor heart for Andre Lyon's life-saving transplant?

Jeff Kingsley, the Silicon Valley hotshot who became interim leader of the label, had revealed himself as Lucious's illegitimate son. His heart keeps Andre alive.

Cookie is only a nickname on Empire; what is the real first name of the Lyon family matriarch?

Loretha Holloway was given the name Cookie by Lucious himself, back when the two were scraping together money for his rap career.

Which action star did Lee Daniels first have in mind to play Lucious Lyon before Empire's leading lady intervened?

Wesley Snipes was a name Daniels at first refused to reveal. He admitted he had found the eventual star too pretty for the part, until one earlier film performance changed his mind.

Empire's fashion label, run by Camilla Marks and later Rhonda Lyon, shares its name with which Shakespeare tragedy?

Antony and Cleopatra passes to Rhonda as creative director after Camilla's death, not long before Rhonda's own fatal fall from a rooftop in the third-season premiere.

Lucious Lyon is a stage name on Empire; under which name was the orphaned future hip-hop mogul born?

Dwight Walker reinvented himself after a childhood spent hustling from the age of nine. His past resurfaces when the mother long presumed dead is found living in a nursing facility.

Besides a Shakespeare tragedy, which James Goldman play about a warring royal family helped inspire Empire?

The Lion in Winter follows the conflicts between Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their children over one Christmas. Its 1968 film version starred Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.

Which rapper and actress brought her Star character, salon owner Carlotta Brown, into Empire for a 2017 crossover?

Queen Latifah's Carlotta visits Cookie and Lucious in the fourth-season premiere, a crossover that tied Fox's two Lee Daniels music dramas together.

Which record label released Empire's soundtracks and signed the actors who play Jamal and Hakeem as solo artists?

Columbia issued the show's songs week by week and saw the first full album open at number one. By March 2015 it had signed both of the singing Lyon sons as solo acts.

The actor who plays Jamal Lyon on Empire came out publicly in 2015 in an interview with which daytime host?

Ellen DeGeneres had booked him to sing a song from the soundtrack, and he used the interview to come out, echoing the storyline of the son he played.

Which fiercely loyal assistant to Cookie Lyon on Empire refuses Anika's offer to spy on her boss?

Porsha, played by Ta'Rhonda Jones, began as a recurring part and became a regular in season two. She also gets to sing, performing with one of the label's stars at BossyFest.

Which Empire pop singer, played by Serayah, has an on-off romance with Hakeem Lyon and eventually marries him?

Tiana was Serayah's first major acting role, and in 2015 she also appeared in Taylor Swift's Bad Blood video. The character goes on to have a son, Prince, with Hakeem.