Empire is a show that took TV series by storm. The show is Fox highest rated debut show in over 3 years. The premiere brought in 9.8 million viewers and ratings increased with each episode. Oops that’s a fact, here are the others

-Tim Mosland (Timbaland) produced all of the music for the show. All of the songs are Original Tracks.

-Taraji P Hensen (Cookie Lyon) said she would only do the show under the condition that Terrence Howard (Lucious Lyon) played the lead male role.

-Wesley Snipes was considered for the part of Lucious Lyon before Terrence Howard was ultimately cast.

-The Show is based on the lion in the winter (1968).

-Bryshere Y Grays (Hakeem Lyon) acting debut.

-Empire TV series was originally meant to be a movie.

– The show illustrate the events and story as taking place in New York City, and uses establishing skyline shots of NYC. However none of the street scenes appear to be New York and it is actually filmed in Chicago.

– The scene in the pilot when Lucious throws young Jamal in the garbage was taken from Creator of the Show Lee Daniels childhood. His own father had done this to him when he was a child. When filming the scene, after a few takes, Lee told Terrance Howard be more forceful. He wanted it to be done the same way it was done to him.

– The character Jamal is inspired by creator Lee Daniels life. Andre is inspired by creator Danny Strong’s mother, who also suffers from a mental illness.

-Macy Gray was initially cast in a recurring role in Season 1 as Tasha, a woman having an affair with Hakeem but her storyline was written out.

– Taraji P. Henson, who portrays Cookie Lyon, the mother of Jamal (Jussie Smollett), is only 13 years older than Jamal. Trai Byers (Andre Lyon) and Jussie Smollett (Jamal Lyon) are the same age (born in 1983), although Andre is the older brother in the series.

– For her audition to play Elle Dallas, Courtney Love was asked to sing a PattiLaBelle song, which by all accounts, including Love’s, was a disaster. Rather than cast another actress, Lee Daniels retooled the character as a megastar singer who lost her voice and asked Love to perform an Al Green song instead, so as to take advantage of Love’s more rock-oriented vocals, rather than the R&B type-sound he’d originally envisioned. Love then got the part.

– The character of Elle Dallas is based on Whitney Houston , though Lee Daniels created the part of Courtney love, of whom he was a great admirer. When Daniels contacted Love about playing the recurring character, she thought it was a joke.

– Though Grace Gealey plays Anika, Lucious’s fiancée who is in his age group, in real life she’s a year younger than both Trai Byers (André) and Jussie Smollett(Jamal).

– Trai Byers(Andre Lyon) and Kaitlin Doubleday (Rhonda Lyon) (married on show) share the same birthday. Byers is one year older.

-Porsha is a rapper in real life.

-A Denzel Washington Cameo is in the works.

-The show is run by a a woman named Ilene Chaikene (Empire Head Producer).


http://www.naijakick.com/facts-about-empire-tv-series-you-never-knew/

My guy, na Tim Mosley...I actually know most of these facts. You forgot that Quincy Brown apparently had the role of Hakeem (according to him), but his de facto dad, Diddy, did not like the contract with respect to the music. Of course, Diddy knows how to draft a dodgy contract, ask any Bad Boy artiste.
Boo Boo Kitty and Andre are engaged in real life.
Monique claimed she had the Cookie role, but lost it after falling out with Lee Daniels.