'Empire' Season 2 Cast News: EP Danny Strong Says 'We've Had Too Many Guest Stars'
As fans expected, "Empire" capped off 2015 with an explosive winter finale that had at least three twists in its plotline.
In its Dec. 2 episode titled "Et Tu, Brute?," Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) was dethroned from Empire Entertainment via a surprising boardroom coup, Camilla Marks (Naomi Campbell) had a triumphant return, and the fate of Rhonda Lyon (Kaitlin Doubleday) was left in question after she was knocked out cold from a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs.
Though ratings have recently dipped, "Empire" has had generally positive reviews throughout its run, becoming one of the top-rated shows on television today. Yet, the show has also had its share of negative criticism, with viewers and critics drawing comparisons to the musical TV series "Glee" and saying that the show has become bloated with too many unnecessary guest stars.
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Executive producer Danny Strong, who will helm the March 30 comeback episode "Death Will Have His Day" (which he wrote), spoke to Deadline, saying, "I do think we've had too many guest stars and we've already started course-correcting in the last portion of this first part of Season 2, especially in the tail end."
He went on to say that the show has had some terrific guest stars, mentioning Alicia Keys, who, he said, was "wonderful." But, the producer added, "I think, maybe because we were rejected by so many people in the early part of the first season and now we can get anyone we want, we were too guest-star heavy for a while." According to Strong, the second half of Season 2 will feature fewer guest stars as the storyline will focus more on the Lyon family and the show's core group of characters.
Strong also addressed earlier reports that Oprah Winfrey will show up in Season 2, saying, "As far as Oprah goes, I don't think she's going to be on the show this season." He explained that Oprah was in talks with "Empire" co-creator Lee Daniels but that nothing came out of it, adding that the media mogul is a fan of the show but that publicly insinuating that she will guest on "Empire" was "premature."
"Empire" Season 2 returns on March 30, 2016 at 9 p.m. on Fox.
