Empire
Lee Daniels Fox Pilot Drama STAR Casting Central Characters Including: Transgender Woman!
Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com
On the heels of the smash hit primetime sudsy drama Empire, creator Lee Daniels and Fox are hard at work putting together the pilot for his next TV project, Star!
At the epicenter of Star ia the story of four young woman trying to make it big in show business with big dreams and aspirations. According to the official description from the network on the series concept: “It will feature the choices with which these artists are faced along the way, while showcasing the allure and heartache of the cut-throat music scene, and exploring cultural themes from a new perspective. What will they do to rise to the top?”
Now according to TV Line, casting is already underway for the four core characters which include: a transgender woman named Cotton, 20, who is a half-black, half-Spanish with a “stunning look” and a “keen eye for fashion.” The other woman are described as: “Star”, an 18-year-old white woman with a “badass attitude.” Then there is “Simone”, 16, who is Star’s half-white, half-black sister. She’s simply described as “tragic and adorable.” And finally, Alexandra, a black woman around the age of 20. Though she’s described as “elegant” and “classic,” she wants to abandon her “material world” in the hopes of making “real, authentic music.”
So, what do you think of the concept of Star and the characters? Daniels, who is always a trendsetter and one to shed light on an under-represented part of the population is putting a transgender character to the mix, as the trans community has been garnering more media attention of late. Finally, who would you suggest to the play the four lead characters? Put your casting director hats on, and then share your thoughts below!
Breaking News
TEEN CHOICE AWARDS: ‘This Is Us’, ‘Empire’ & Actors Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Jussie Smollett Score Nods
On Wednesday, the nominees for those ‘way cool’ surfboard trophies at the upcoming 2018 Teen Choice Awards were revealed. The ceremony will air live on FOX on Sunday August 12th at 8/7c live from Los Angeles.
The awards voted on by fans for their favorites in television, movies and music kicked off the determination of the winners today. Fans have the chance to vote up to ten times a day on each platform: Twitter and at TeenChoice.com up until June 19. For Twitter, viewers can tweet a category hashtag along with the nominee’s name for the vote to be counted.
In the television categories, Riverdale and the just cancelled Shadowhunters led the nominations. but a few of your favorite primetime soapy dramas also came away with nominations in the major categories … This Is Us, and Empire. In addition, Sterling K. Brown (Randall) and Chrissy Metz (Kate) scored acting nominations for This Is Us, while Jussie Smollett (Jamal) received an acting nod for Empire.
Check out these main TV drama categories below and remember to vote.
Choice Drama TV Show (#ChoiceDramaTVShow)
Empire
Famous in Love
Riverdale
Star
The Fosters
This Is Us
Choice Drama TV Actor (#ChoiceDramaTVActor)
Cole Sprouse — Riverdale
Freddie Highmore — The Good Doctor
Jesse Williams — Grey’s Anatomy
Jussie Smollett — Empire
K.J. Apa — Riverdale
Sterling K. Brown — This Is Us
Choice Drama TV Actress (#ChoiceDramaTVActress)
Bella Thorne — Famous in Love
Camila Mendes — Riverdale
Chrissy Metz — This Is Us
Lili Reinhart — Riverdale
Maia Mitchell — The Fosters
Ryan Destiny — Star
So, which show from the nominees do you think the voters will chose for Choice Drama TV Show, Actor and Actress? Let us know in the comment section below!
Empire
EMPIRE Season Four Finale: A Wedding, Two Deaths … Maybe More!
On the season four finale of Empire, two deaths, maybe another, and a marriage, highlighted the twists and turns of the Fox hip-hop music soap opera.
First, Cookie’s (Taraji P. Henson) long time rival, Boo Boo Kitty aka Anika, played by Grace Gealey, took one of the more horrific signature tumbles that Empire is known for. Payback is definitely a bitch!
Courtesy/FOX
Andre (Trai Byers) spiked Anika’s champagne before her press conference when she announces she has taken over as CEO of “Empire.” While she is making her speech, she starts seeing visions of Rhonda, featuring Kaitlin Doubleday reprising her role. As she is speaking to the press, Anika is having hallucinations of Rhonda and her delusions reach epic proportions. Then, we watch Anika smash through glass and fall several floors below to her death. According to showrunner EP Greg Mahoney, Anika is truly dead.
But also, at the top of the hour, recovering junkie Tori, played by Rumer Willis, was rushed to the hospital. This was following an emotional confrontation with Jamal (Jussie Smollett). He visits her in the rehab center where she realizes she’s still got deep addiction issues. After, they have a talk, she tells him to watch out for himself, and that the Lyon family will bring him down, and he needs to find his own path in life. Later, Jamal comes back to see her, only to find out that she has suffered complications from a grand mal seizure, and has died. This prompts Jamal to go on a self-journey, and leave the Lyon’s nest for now.
Meanwhile, at the end of the episode, Cookie and Lucious (Terrence Howard), finally, finally after all the bickering … all the backstabbing … all the health issues … all the betrayals … went down to city hall to get re-married. This was a long time coming. It was a simple ceremony, but as with any Empire season finale, there was a major juxtaposition going on adjacent to the main scene, and this was also the case for season four’s final moments.
While Cookie and Lucious were getting married, the camera cuts to Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) and his baby mama Tiana (Serayah McNeill) getting ready to travel in a car along with white rapper Blake in tow, only to see that Blake’s racist father comes out of nowhere and attempts to assassinate Hakeem! We don’t know if anyone was struck … we don’t know if anybody died … we fade to black.
On the business end of things, Eddie, played by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, won the “Empire” auction. He has forced the Lyon family to start from scratch as they no longer have the business that they spent years putting their blood, sweat, and tears into.
Courtesy/FOX
When TV Line asked showrunner Brett Mahoney about the shooting at the end of the episode and if it will lead to a third death, he said, “I won’t say. I will say that things won’t be the same between the four people that were involved in that.” Mahoney added that the early part of season five will focus on the Lyon family building a new empire. He teased, “Yes. But I think it’s going to be a much more difficult process than Cookie thinks it’s going to be. And it’ll tear at the relationship between Cookie and Lucious and the boys, in terms of trying to achieve that goal.”
So, what did you think about the season four finale of Empire? What did you think about who died? What did you think about Cookie and Lucious tying the knot? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Empire
EMPIRE Renewed For Season 5!
B&B Preview – Week of June 25, 2018
DAYS Preview – Week of June 25, 2018
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Julexis Goes To Therapy
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Jason Thompson Delivers ‘Power Performance Of The Week’ As Billy Falls Back Into Temptation
Nathalie Kelley Says She Is Not Returning To DYNASTY For Season 2
ABC Officially Picks Up ‘Roseanne’ Spinoff, ‘The Conners’ With No Roseanne Barr Participation
Eva Longoria Gives Birth To Baby Boy!
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Chase and ‘Janelle’ Two Sides To Every Story?
B&B Picks Up Its 13th Golden Nymph Award At 58th Monte Carlo Television Festival
THE BACHELORETTE: Two Rose Ceremonies, A Lumberjack Fetish & One Guy Tells Becca He Is Falling For Her Then Takes It Back
GH Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
Y&R Poll: Do You Think There Is Any Way To Redeem Victor ?
ABC Officially Picks Up ‘Roseanne’ Spinoff, ‘The Conners’ With No Roseanne Barr Participation
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Chase and ‘Janelle’ Two Sides To Every Story?
B&B Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
Y&R Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Courtney Hope Returns & Makes Us Love Sally All Over Again … Even Though She’s Got That Gun Pointed At Wyatt!
The Bold and the Beautiful Updates Their Opening Title Sequence Adding Recent Cast Additions
Heather Locklear Sent To Hospital For Psych Evaluation After Threatening To Harm Herself
B&B Casts Kiara Barnes To Contract Role
B&B Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
Y&R Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
Drake Goes Back to His Roots With ‘Degrassi’ Cast In Haywire High School Reunion In ‘I’m Upset’ Music Video
72nd Tony Awards: De Niro Gets Bleeped, Garfield’s Speech, The Band’s Visit Tops & Parkland Students’ Emotional Performance
B&B Preview – Week of June 11, 2018
NASHVILLE: What’s Next? The Final 8 Episodes Set To Begin!
GH Releases Its Summer 2018 Promo Featuring New Photos of Your Faves
EXCLUSIVE: 45th Annual Daytime Emmys Winners & Backstage Video Interviews!
45th Annual Daytime Emmy Interview with Ken Corday
Chloe Lanier Interview – General Hospital – 45th Annual Daytime Emmys Younger Actress Winner
General HospitalJune 17, 2018GH Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
The Young and the RestlessJune 16, 2018Y&R Poll: Do You Think There Is Any Way To Redeem Victor ?
Breaking NewsJune 21, 2018ABC Officially Picks Up ‘Roseanne’ Spinoff, ‘The Conners’ With No Roseanne Barr Participation
General HospitalJune 19, 2018GENERAL HOSPITAL: Chase and ‘Janelle’ Two Sides To Every Story?
PreviewsJune 17, 2018B&B Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
PreviewsJune 17, 2018Y&R Preview – Week of June 18, 2018
RecapsJune 16, 2018THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Courtney Hope Returns & Makes Us Love Sally All Over Again … Even Though She’s Got That Gun Pointed At Wyatt!
Breaking NewsJune 15, 2018The Bold and the Beautiful Updates Their Opening Title Sequence Adding Recent Cast Additions
Leave a Reply
New characters will be good..
This season #2 has been over kill of Cookie ..
Cookie, Cookie, Cookie ..
More of Lucious- I like him better than Cookie..
Jamal, I really like him, but all his songs sound much the same ..
Hakeem, I really like him and his songs /music is really good.
Empire is AWESOME!
Looking forward to the new four core characters 🙂
su0000, these four characters are for a different show. But I totally agree with you about the Cookie overkill. Too much of a good thing is … well… a bad thing.
Su0000 read the article before commenting. Is a new show casting the PILOT with four characters in the world of entertainment. .. it’s not four characters for empire .. LOL. ..SMH
these characters will be for his new show titled star – they are not for empire………
The casting is for a “NEW” show called Star.
ooops on me!
thanks for the correction ..
You knew what you were doing su0000 knock it off lol
EMPIRE is getting a little one note with its sole focus on the music business — surely Lucious has holdings in some other sort of businesses to mix up the plot a bit.
STAR would do well to focus on the worlds of film and modeling as well as music to open up as many story avenues as possible for its characters.
Yes, so tired of all the singing. I get it’s about the music biz, but come on! Stop trying to sell me an album.
Oh please not another show shoving a trans character down my throat. If I want a quality show on the issues of the transgender community I will keep watching “Transparent” on Amazon. And Lee Daniels is getting a little cocky. Empire is phenomenal but the last thing any one wants is Empire Another Perspective….
Nobody is shoving anything down your throat. If you want to turn a blind eye to a segment of humanity, change the channel or shut off your TV. There are, oh, about 10,000 shows that don’t feature any transgender characters so you should be able to find something to suit your tastes.
You don’t have to watch the new show. No one is forcing you to do so. All you have to do is use your remote to change the channel.
You’re right I do not have to watch anything I choose not to, however….my feelings on the situation are less valid regardless of the lame admonitions I am receiving for speaking my mind. Your feelings are yours and you are entitled to them. However I stand by mine and if I choose to change the channel or turn off my television it will be MY decision and mine alone. Not any one else’s so keep your passive aggressive directions aimed at you or your family and leave me to express my feelings as I see fit. Point and match.
We’ll see. I think he needs to concentrate on Empire though. The premiere ep this season wasn’t good. It has improved, but there are areas of improvement. Several of my co-workers who used to love the show are saying they’re going to stop watching.
I like Empire. I think it is still good. The season is now 18 episodes so it can’t move as fas paced as last season. Terrence and Taraji are still bringing it and I am loving the focus on Andre. Shows have to develop and can’t be bang, bang every week but like I said, I have no issue with it and I love the music. It’s about a music company and both Timbaland and Neyo are handling the music so I expect to see performances. But to each its own.
Oh god now here comes more crappy shows in the works, just wait. We had cop shows, hospital shows, talk shows, reality shows, now empire and another show in development. If I misses something please.