Fox has released the first teaser trailer for the second season of Empire.
Timbaland serves as executive music producer on the hit US-hip-hop drama and was recently announced to be writing new music with Ne-Yo for season two. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Kelly Rowland, Alicia Keys, Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Marisa Tomei have all signed up for guest roles.
Courtney Love had a recurring role in the first season as Elle Dallas – a drug-addicted rock star on the comeback trail. Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Rita Ora, Gladys Knight, Estelle, Jennifer Hudson and Patti LaBelle also made guest appearances during the first season.
Co-created by The Butler director Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, Empire centres on a fictional hip-hop music and entertainment company called Empire Entertainment which headed up by rapper-turned-mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). Taraji P. Henson co-stars as his formidable ex-wife Cookie Lyon.
Empire was widely perceived to have been snubbed when this year’s Emmy nominations were announced earlier this month – with the show scoring just one nomination in a major category.
Season two will feature 18 episodes – six more than season one – with the first nine to air on Fox this autumn and the second nine to follow in spring 2016 after a mid-season cliffhanger.
