Fox musical drama "Empire" has aired its two-hour freshman season finale and as expected, it broke viewership records. According to a report by Deadline as per the data released by Nielsen, the TV show starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P Henson garnered "a 6.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 16.7 million total viewers." It added the ratings rise by 12% compared to the one-hour episode that aired one week ago. People really love the Lee Daniels-created drama. Too bad, they can only see the whole "Empire" TV series cast" again after almost one year.
The first season was phenomenal and for its second season, fans will hope for nothing but the best. It is pretty obvious all main "Empire" TV series cast, especially those who belong in the Lyon family will be back for a sophomore run. However, based on what went on in the season finale, it seems they will all have their hands full when it comes to family matters and their respective careers. The family has been divided.
"Empire" exec producer Ilene Chaiken is aware of the pressure of making their sophomore run successful, to keep the entire "Empire" TV series cast compelling. This is probably the reason why their writers are going to convene as early as next month.
"The decision is Fox's to make. They love the show as much as we do. Whatever decision they make I will believe in. And we will be everything that 'Empire' is in now in season two," Chaiken said in an interview with Variety referring to their future schedule.
She also quashed the idea that that "Empire" season 2 will get 22 episodes because of the fact it is hard to write two scripts for the show. The two scripts she is referring two are the storyline and the songs.
"Definitely the conception and the execution and the production of the music is an added layer on this show," she said. "It's like writing two scripts for every episode - the music is a story and it is every bit as meticulously crafted as the (plot) stories themselves. There's a lot of weighing in from different corners. We figured out a process early on that has been quite successful for us. We will continue it into the second season with a slightly more robust (music) team."
Aside from Howard and Henson, other members of the "Empire" TV series cast are Jussie Smollett, Trai Byers, and Bryshere Gray.
