Empire is an American musical drama television series created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong which debuted on January 7, 2015, on Fox. Although filmed in Chicago,[1][2] the show is based in New York City and it centers on a fictional hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Entertainment, and the drama among the members of the founders' family as they fight for control of the company.
A former drug dealer turned hip hop mogul and the founder and long-time CEO of Empire Entertainment[3] whose life begins to cave in around him after his past sins come back to haunt him when allegedly diagnosed with ALS.
Lucious Lyon's outspoken wife and mother of his three sons, who served a 17-year stretch in prison for drug dealing. She sees herself as the sacrificial lamb for Empire Entertainment, which she built with Lucious, but then took the fall for when she was arrested for running the drugs that financed Lucious' early career. Upon her return from prison, she is determined to bring the Lyon family back together and reclaim her share of Empire Entertainment.[4][5] In the second season, Cookie leaves Empire and starts her own record label, Lyon Dynasty. After allowing Empire Entertainment to acquire Lyon Dynasty, she returns to Empire as co-CEO with Lucious and Head of A&R. Cookie's love interests are Malcolm DeVeaux, Laz Delgado (Season 2) and Angelo DuBois (Season 3).
The eldest son of the Lyon family and CFO of Empire Entertainment. He is Wharton educated, power hungry, and suffers from bipolar disorder. He is married to his college sweetheart, Rhonda. He plans to run Empire, but is in a battle for the head chair with his younger brothers. In the second season, Andre initially helps Cookie and Hakeem set up Lyon Dynasty, but later returns to Empire. Lucious later promotes Andre to President of Gutter Life Records, a sub-division of Empire Entertainment consisting of mainly urban rappers, such as Freda Gatz. In Season 3 & 4, he loses his wife and becomes Nessa, Charlotte & Pamela's new lovers.
The middle son of the Lyon family, an openly gay singer-songwriter who despises the corporate aspect of the music industry. He is estranged from his father who considers him the "black sheep" of the family.[4] Jamal is Cookie's favorite and has a strong relationship with his brother Hakeem. At the end of the first season, Lucious appoints Jamal as his successor and, later, interim CEO when he is arrested. He later relinquishes control of Empire back to Lucious. After being shot accidentally by Freda Gatz in Season 2, Jamal begins to present symptoms of PTSD and reliance on painkillers. His addiction ultimately leads to a visit to rehab.
The fame-obsessed youngest son of the Lyon family and Lucious's favorite child, who is a hip hop star on the rise.[6] Hakeem starts to find feelings for his mother, Cookie, and has a great relationship with Jamal. He has relationships with Tiana Brown, Camilla Marks, Anika Calhoun, Valentina, and Laura.
Initially the ambitious head of Empire Entertainment A&R[7] who becomes engaged to Lucious, but they eventually separate. After leaving Empire, Anika begins to sleep with Hakeem, leading to Anika's pregnancy. Fearful of Rhonda's pregnancy and the unborn child's claim to being the Heir of Empire, Anika pushes Rhonda down a set of stairs, leading to the death of her unborn child. Cookie and Anika share an extreme dislike for one another, with Cookie referring to Anika as the derisive nickname "Boo Boo Kitty".[8] Anika meets her demise in the Season 4 finale after Andre drugs her to guilt her for all the wrong she's done. Like Andre, Anika hallucinates Rhonda and tries to run from her, but she accidentally falls over a balcony and onto a table full of wine glasses, killing her.
Lucious Lyon's longtime friend and business partner, and chairman of Empire Entertainment. He was accidentally murdered by Rhonda in the season one finale.[9]
Andre's wife. She is extremely fierce and loyal, and sticks by Andre's side as he tries to gain control of Empire. In the first-season finale, she finds out that she is pregnant, but the baby eventually dies in the second season spring premiere, after Anika violently pushed her down the stairs in the second season fall finale. After her recovery, Rhonda begins to work for Empire's fashion label, Antony and Cleopatra, initially headed by Camilla Marks-Whiteman. After Camilla's suicide, Rhonda is appointed Creative Director of Antony and Cleopatra. In the third-season premiere, she falls off of a building and lands onto a car, leading to her death, after attacking Anika. She makes a few appearances in the first half of the third season as a "ghost"; appearing to Andre due to his hallucinations. In the Season 4 finale, she returns as a hallucination to Anika this time as a result of Andre drugging her; leading up to her own tragic death in a similar scenario Rhonda faced. "Rhonda" gazes upon the dying Anika and vanishes before her eyes.
Rebecca "Becky" Williams (Gabourey Sidibe (original cast), 2015–2020)
Executive assistant to Lucious Lyon at Empire Entertainment. After Jamal's promotion to vice-chairman, Jamal promotes Becky to A&R at Empire and its sub-label, Gutter Life Records.[7][12]
An artist at Empire Entertainment who becomes Hakeem Lyon's girlfriend for some time.[13] In Season 2, she leaves Empire for Lyon Dynasty. She also starts to get jealous of the relationship Hakeem has with Laura. In Season 3, her and Hakeem reconcile. At the season 4 finale, she reveals that she is pregnant with Hakeem's child and they plan to be a family. In Season 5, two years later they are still together and have a son named Prince Lyon.
Tariq Cousins (Morocco Omari, 2016–2017)
An FBI agent and Lucious Lyon's paternal half-brother.[14][15] He was stabbed in the neck by Leah in Toil and Trouble Part 1.
Described as "100 percent wolf and 100 percent gangsta," he is a rival of Lucious Lyon. In season 4, He was shot and killed by Webb for trying to kill Lucious in the Season 3 finale.
The daughter of Poundcake, Cookie Lyon's fellow inmate. Maya was born in prison, stolen from her mother's arms, and adopted by upper middle-class parents. A classically trained dancer, she's beautiful, graceful, and headstrong. She woke up married to Hakeem during their trip from Vegas.
Jeff Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey, 2018–2020)
A hotshot, Silicon Valley genius-turned-label executive; business wunderkind. Ivy League-educated with an edge and a dark secret. He is later revealed to be the illegitimate son of Lucious, something he reveals in to the entire Lyon Family while shaming his father to the public. In the season finale, Kingsley commits suicide.
Recurring characters
This is a list of recurring actors and the characters they portrayed in multiple episodes, which were significant roles, sometimes across multiple seasons. The characters are listed by the season in which they first appeared.
Chef and Jamal Lyon's former boyfriend.[17][18] They separate in season 1, but reunited sometime before the premiere of season 2. Michael eventually cheats on Jamal with Chase One, and they end their relationship.
Fashion designer and Hakeem Lyon's lover[19] but then leaves him, later on she is announced as the wife of Mimi Whiteman in the second season. Camilla uses her connection to Mimi and seizes Empire to give it to Hakeem but he rejects her for Laura. Camilla later poisons Mimi and is caught by Lucious who records her act, he gives her the chance to commit suicide and she drinks the same poison and dies off-screen.
Lucious Lyon's presumed dead mother, who turned out to be living in a nursing facility. She is eventually brought to New York City by Andre, and is now living with Lucious.
Forbes billionaire and venture capitalist, who is asked by Cookie Lyon and Andre Lyon to invest $250 million in order to complete the hostile takeover of Empire. However, she instead sides with Lucious. She eventually betrays Lucious, resulting in her and her wife Camilla receiving control of Empire. She withdraws her stocks and funding from Camilla after a sex tape of her and Hakeem's affair is exposed. This results in Mimi being murdered by Camilla, who afterwards immediately commits suicide, giving Hakeem full control of Empire.
Cookie Lyon's well-behaved but snobby and judgmental older sister. She lives in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Kevin (who is white), and their two children, Brianna and Franklin. She is a realtor.
Lucious Lyon's sharp lawyer who has unethical moves and a shady past.
Freda Gathers\"Freda Gatz" (Bre-z, 2015–2019)
Rapper, who becomes a surrogate daughter to Lucious after the murder of her father, Frank Gathers. Lucious later sets up Freda to become Hakeem's rival.
Concert promoter and love interest of Cookie Lyon, until it was revealed that he had involvement in a series of scare tactics and money schemes against Lyon Dynasty.
A well-respected city councilman with a Harvard law degree and a wealthy background. He was romantically involved with Cookie Lyon. He later breaks up and willingly follows his mother to plot against the Lyons. He tries to kill his cousin Warren for betraying the family and siding with the Lyons, then Jamal only to be fatally shot when Jamal tries to defend himself.
Angelo DuBois' mother, a powerhouse from one of New York's oldest and most prominent African-American families. She came from an impoverished background, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She was arrested for her involvement in the kidnapping of Bella Lyon.
Queenpin who runs a club in Las Vegas and make brash moves in the gangster underworld of New York City to secure a deal with Empire. She is sleek, sexy, and cold-blooded and rubs elbows with Lucious and is expected to go toe-to-toe with Cookie.
Director of the all-powerful state gaming commission which has the power to determine the fate of Lucious's goal of expanding Empire to Las Vegas. Andre's ex lover.
A singer-songwriter who bonds with Jamal during his time in rehab. She is a musician and was a big star, until she stripped down in Dealy Plaza and almost overdosed in a dingy motel room. Tory was introduced a smart mouth and begins to go toe to toe with Cookie Lyon. She has made many references to her past drugs life and says many drug jokes that Jamal Lyon doesn't find funny. She dies in the hospital after an overdose.
Warren Hall (Terrell Carter, 2017–2019)
The attorney-musician nephew of the duplicitous Lyon-hater Diana DuBois, that she sent to seduce Jamal. How will Diana react when Warren (inevitably) develops real feelings for Jamal and what will Jamal do when he discovers that his new boyfriend is actually a dreaded Dubois?
An NYPD detective and liaison. She is first seen at a bar and has sex with Andre before she is later revealed as NYPD liaison and seen with the Vegas Metro detectives about Guiliana Green's disappearance. She and Andre engage in a sexual relationship, but when he reveals he ordered the car bomb to kill Lucious, she reveals she is really with Vegas Metro and played him all this time, leading to a scuffle where Andre inadvertently kills her. Then Pamela is revealed to be a complete hallucination caused by psycho-active drugs given to by his therapist, who was secretly in league with the DuBois family.
The daughter of Poundcake, Cookie Lyon's fellow inmate. Maya was born in prison, stolen from her mother's arms, and adopted by upper middle-class parents. A classically trained dancer, she's beautiful, graceful, and headstrong. In Season 5 she becomes Jamal's executive assistant, and later in Season 6 she becomes Andre's executive assistant. Also in Season 6 Maya and Hakeem start a friendly relationship and take a trip to Las Vegas; they get drunk and wake up the next day to find out they secretly got married overnight. They remain married for the rest of the series
Porsha's sexy and ambitious cousin. She has a street-hustle mentality and looks to exploit any avenue she can to jumpstart her budding singing/rap career.
Soft-spoken SoundCloud singer who sounds great online but is plagued with performance anxiety and cursed by an inability to sing in front of a crowd.
Guest stars
The following is a supplementary list of guest stars, some recurring, who appear in lesser roles. The characters are listed, in alphabetical order by actor, by the season in which they first appeared.
The owner of an Atlanta beauty salon, who worked with Mary Davis in the R&B duo Mixed Harmony back in the 1990s. She becomes a surrogate mother to the three girls, even though she doesn't approve of their musical dreams. At the end of the first season, she takes over as manager from Jahil. Carlotta is a friend of Lucious's from back in the day.
Jeff Kingsley's estranged mother and a recovering drug addict who is also a former flame of Lucious. After disowning Jeff, the latter of which commits suicide, Tracy is forced to have her son's heart transplanted into Andre. She unfortunately blames Lucious for causing his death and soon plots to take her revenge on him. While holding Lucious and Cookie at gunpoint as he signs divorce papers, Andre walks in and quickly disarms Tracy, allowing Cookie to shoot her in self defense, killing Tracy and ending her vendetta against Lucious.
