'Empire' Season 2 Premiere: Black Lives Matter Movement Featured [Watch]
"Empire" Season 2 premieres on Fox Wednesday, and showrunners are talking about incorporating the Black Lives Matter movement into the hit series.
Producer Lee Daniels will feature themes of police brutality, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, in upcoming scenes, although showrunners did not tease any specific scenarios, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Co-creator Danny Strong says "Empire" will continue to produce drama that deals with real life issues involving the black community.
"We don't set out to just do a juicy soap opera," Strong said. "We set out to do a very truthful drama that's also a soap opera."
Daniels, Strong and fellow showrunner Ilene Chaiken hired more black writers for Season 2, including Ayanna Floyd from Shondaland, who says viewers have been waiting for network television to do something different for a while now.
"And black people, in particular, love to see themselves on television because they don't see themselves a lot - and this wasn't about seeing yourself in a way that makes you feel bad about yourself. It's not a slave movie," she said. "They're rich, they're glamorous, they're complicated."
The next season will feature the Lyons battling each other for their family's music company, while Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is in jail for murder. He may have something up his sleeve and will be home soon to take care of business.
Will Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) bring the family together? Or will they remain enemies?
Meanwhile, Howard continues to face public scrutiny for physically assaulting his first wife Lori McCommas and second wife Michelle Ghent in the past. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the actor admitted to "slapping" one of his wives in front of their children.
Since then, showrunners and the network have been shooting down rumors that Howard's personal life will affect his role as Lucious in the next season.
Prepare to see more of Lucious and the entire Lyon family on "Empire" in Season 2, premiering Sept. 23 on Fox.
Check out the promo for Season 2 on YouTube.
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