ATX Festival 2015: ‘Empire’-The Creative Panel Recap

ATX Festival’s awesome Empire: The Creatives panel was full of juicy tidbits for fans to mull over until the show’s second season premieres later this year.

The show’s co-creator Danny Strong, along with co-executive producer Wendy Calhoun, gave fans a look at the series from a behind-the-scenes perspective, dished about what to expect from the show’s second season and were just all around enjoyable.

If you want to know more about what we found out during the panel, you’re in luck! Here are our top 6 takeaways from today’s Empire panel:

Top 6 Things to Know From ATX’s ‘Empire’-The Creative Panel

• Empire‘s co-creator Danny Strong revealed that the upcoming second season won’t focus on being “bigger and better” but will instead focus on “continuing the story” of the Lyon family.

• Fans can also look out for new relationship dynamics during the show’s second season, like more scenes with Cookie and Dre for example.

• “Season 1 was who will inherit the throne. Season 2 is warring kingdoms,” Strong revealed.

• The show’s stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard are allowed to improvise a lot of their lines. Danny revealed that the Cookie’s famous “Boo-boo Kitty” nickname for Anika was actually improvised by Taraji!

• Wendy Calhoun, one of the show’s producers, is genuinely appreciative of the diversity behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. “Up until Empire, I was usually the only black writer in the room,” she told fans.

• The original offer to play Lucious went to Wesley Snipes, which could have made the Empire a VERY different series.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out our Boy Meets Girl Meets World panel recap and stay tuned for more ATX festival updates for shows including The Leftovers, Gilmore Girls and more!

Photo Credit: FOX