Empire Season 2's hit show status has just been certified by pop icons Alicia Keys, Chris Rock, and Lenny Kravitz who have agreed to guest star on the Fox series.
There is also talk that Common and Oprah Winfrey will also be on the show when the series returns for a second season although the network has not confirmed this yet.
Variety reported the network announcement of its new season guest characters in an advertising presentation in New York. Advertising interest in Empire escalated since the first season reportedly broke ratings records.
Showrunner Ilene Chaiken talked to Deadline about the coming season and how their hit show status has earned them their star guests, "There will be new characters and some really interesting people who want to come and be on the show now that might have been harder to get before the whole world knew what we were doing."
The show has not yet given details on the roles or characters of Keys, Rock, and Kravitz. Fox Television Group CEO Gary Newman has however teased that the "stories we've heard for Season 2 are going to blow away the audience," reports TV Line.
Fox has renewed the show for 6 more episodes this season, bringing the total to 18. Season 2 of the hip hop dynasty drama will be split into two halves with a break in between.
Newman also announced the show will remain on the same timeslot on Wednesdays at 9pm. "We'd be crazy to move it. The show really was appointment television in a way that's kind of unprecedented in this day and age. So it didn't make any sense to us at all to move it," explains the Fox chief. "We wanted to make it easy for people to find it live as ever," Newman added.
Empire Season 2 will return to Fox television this fall.
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