Sneak Peek
THERE IS TROUBLE IN THE LYON’S DEN ON AN ALL-NEW EPISODE OF “EMPIRE” WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, ON FOX
Taye Diggs (“Best Man Holiday”) Guest-Stars
In an attempt to cope with life after being shot, Jamal teams up with businessman Angelo Dubois (guest star Taye Diggs), to talk about gun violence and host a summit for awareness. When he tries to perform again, things don’t go as planned. Meanwhile, Lucious attempts to win over Cookie, Hakeem starts to record new songs with Shine, and Andre runs into some trouble with the police in the all-new “Sin That Amends” episode of EMPIRE airing Wednesday, Sept. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (EMP-302) (TV-14; D, L, S, V) CC-AD-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1
Cast: Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon, Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon, Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon, Bryshere ‘Yazz’ Gray as Hakeem Lyon, Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Grace Byers as Anika Calhoun, Kaitlin Doubleday as Rhonda Lyon, Gabourey Sidibe as Becky, Ta’Rhonda Jones as Porsha and Serayah as Tiana, Bre-Z as Freda Gatz, Xzibit as Shine Johnson and Morocco Omari as Tariq Cousins
Guest Cast: Taye Diggs as Angelo Dubois, Leslie Uggams as Leah Walker, Sierra A. McClain as Nessa, Birgundi Baker as Teen Carol, Lawnyae Marie as Teen Candace, Ajiona Alexus as Teenage Loretha, Jeremy Carver as Teenage Lucious, Jessica Klaas as Sonja, Angela Yee as Herself, Ezri Walker as Zeah, Mo McRae as J Poppa, Biz Markie as Himself, Denzel Love as Barry, Aneisa Hicks as Fatima and Cardeion Banks as Young Tariq
Taye Diggs (“Best Man Holiday”) Guest-Stars
In an attempt to cope with life after being shot, Jamal teams up with businessman Angelo Dubois (guest star Taye Diggs), to talk about gun violence and host a summit for awareness. When he tries to perform again, things don’t go as planned. Meanwhile, Lucious attempts to win over Cookie, Hakeem starts to record new songs with Shine, and Andre runs into some trouble with the police in the all-new “Sin That Amends” episode of EMPIRE airing Wednesday, Sept. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (EMP-302) (TV-14; D, L, S, V) CC-AD-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1
Cast: Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon, Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon, Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon, Bryshere ‘Yazz’ Gray as Hakeem Lyon, Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Grace Byers as Anika Calhoun, Kaitlin Doubleday as Rhonda Lyon, Gabourey Sidibe as Becky, Ta’Rhonda Jones as Porsha and Serayah as Tiana, Bre-Z as Freda Gatz, Xzibit as Shine Johnson and Morocco Omari as Tariq Cousins
Guest Cast: Taye Diggs as Angelo Dubois, Leslie Uggams as Leah Walker, Sierra A. McClain as Nessa, Birgundi Baker as Teen Carol, Lawnyae Marie as Teen Candace, Ajiona Alexus as Teenage Loretha, Jeremy Carver as Teenage Lucious, Jessica Klaas as Sonja, Angela Yee as Herself, Ezri Walker as Zeah, Mo McRae as J Poppa, Biz Markie as Himself, Denzel Love as Barry, Aneisa Hicks as Fatima and Cardeion Banks as Young Tariq
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Promo & Post Mortem Interviews
Jamal chooses to perform a song that includes lyrics about the Orlando tragedy and Black Lives Matter. Why did the writers decide to incorporate those events?
We believe that’s what Jamal would be singing about — it’s who his character is and it’s his story and his drive for the season. He even stated it in the Season 2 finale that his intention is to make music with a view of doing good in the world. That’s what motivates him and he’s taking it all with a sense of mission — to change the narrative of his family and to lead his family away from these dark currents to Lucious has drawn him toward. That’s Jamal’s goal and his mission.
We believe that’s what Jamal would be singing about — it’s who his character is and it’s his story and his drive for the season. He even stated it in the Season 2 finale that his intention is to make music with a view of doing good in the world. That’s what motivates him and he’s taking it all with a sense of mission — to change the narrative of his family and to lead his family away from these dark currents to Lucious has drawn him toward. That’s Jamal’s goal and his mission.
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Can you talk me through how you and the writers came to the decision to kill off Rhonda and not Anika? What was the thinking behind that?
All I can say about that, because we love both of those actors, and we love both of those characters and in terms of losing one or the other from the show, it was an inconceivable to us that either one of them wouldn't be in the show. But we knew that somebody died on that balcony in that moment and so we just had to look and say, "Who? Who died?" And this was the story. I want to give you a disingenuous answer and say, it told itself, but I think as you know having seen the episode, Rhonda dies but she's not out of the show. I'm not going to say how long that convention persists, but it's an important part of Andre's story and his psyche and it really tells the story of his state of mind. And we were excited by it, not just because we didn't want to let go of Kaitlin, but because it felt very, very real and right to us.
Certainly, everything that we set up for Anika, was designed to promise this season. In other words, Lucious marrying Anika in that kind of shotgun way at the end of season two, it would have been a shame had she died. (Laughs.) Because then we never would have gotten to really pay that off so I guess that, more than anything, was how that decision got made.
So Andre will definitely deal with these hallucinations beyond the first episode?
Rhonda does not go away immediately, that's true.
All I can say about that, because we love both of those actors, and we love both of those characters and in terms of losing one or the other from the show, it was an inconceivable to us that either one of them wouldn't be in the show. But we knew that somebody died on that balcony in that moment and so we just had to look and say, "Who? Who died?" And this was the story. I want to give you a disingenuous answer and say, it told itself, but I think as you know having seen the episode, Rhonda dies but she's not out of the show. I'm not going to say how long that convention persists, but it's an important part of Andre's story and his psyche and it really tells the story of his state of mind. And we were excited by it, not just because we didn't want to let go of Kaitlin, but because it felt very, very real and right to us.
Certainly, everything that we set up for Anika, was designed to promise this season. In other words, Lucious marrying Anika in that kind of shotgun way at the end of season two, it would have been a shame had she died. (Laughs.) Because then we never would have gotten to really pay that off so I guess that, more than anything, was how that decision got made.
So Andre will definitely deal with these hallucinations beyond the first episode?
Rhonda does not go away immediately, that's true.
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