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| L-R: Bryshere Gray and Jussie Smollett Photo: Frank Mincelotta/FOX |
****Warning Slight Spoilers Ahead***
The cast and crew of FOX’s hit drama “Empire” hosted a special screening of tonight’s season three spring premiere followed b a Q&A panel at the Grove.
Cast members Jussie Smollet (Jamal), Serayah (Tiana), Bryshere Gray (Hakim), Rumer Willis (Tori), Xhibit (Shane) and Bre-Z (Freeda) answered questions in front of fans along with executive producers Danny Strong, Ilene Chaiken, Sanaa Hamri, and Carlito Rodriguez.
The episode is super entertaining and moves the story along nicely as there will be some serious fighting, back-stabbing and as always humor and drama. Viewers who each week, ask the question, “what will Cookie do next,” will find out in a big way.
On the subject of Cookie and Lucious’ relationship, Chaiken had this to say. “Where do we go from here with Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Lucious (Terrance Howard), “There’s a thin line between love and hate,” said Ilene “It’s not over, I can tell you that. it won’t stop.”
“A lot of it was breaking a lot of things,” Rodriguez added. “The writers go on Twitter a lot and live tweet the episodes. Many people ask, ‘Do Cookie and Lucious belong together’ and we wanted to give them a good reason to belong together as well as one to not belong together.”
The premiere episode picks up where the first half of season three left off (light spoilers):
Jamal was addicted to pills and entered rehab at the end of the last episode and in the premiere, he meets Tori Ash in tonight’s episode.
Jamal and Tori sing a lovely duet together. “She’s definitely not going to be a positive influence on him,” Smollett said of Willis’ character. The season will focus on a realistic struggle with drug addiction. “We really dabble with the idea, ‘is he really ready to be done [with drugs],” Smollett said.
Hakim was still processing the fact that he had a child and his feelings for Tiana.
Tiana was dealing with her own “All About Eve” scenario as Nessa fights for Tiana’s spotlight. Andre and Hakim are dealing with the women in their lives and also for respect and control in the Lyon dynasty. Andre was last seen plotting to kill his father and is now more determined than ever to do so.
In addition to Willis’ guest appearance on the show, her mother, Demi Moore, also joins the cast for a multi-arc. Other Hollywood heavyweights joining the show are Nia Long, and Eva Longoria.
“Empire” returns 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22nd on Fox.
