During its upfront presentation today, Fox executives revealed their plans for the second season of Empire, arguably the hottest broadcast television show in years.
The big news: the network plans an expanded season of 18 episodes instead of the 12 that ran this season, with the season debuting in the fall instead of midseason (the 18 episodes will be split into two nine-episode half-seasons). One thing that won’t be changing, however, is the show’s Wednesday-night time slot.
“We’d be crazy to move it,”; Fox chairman and CEO Gary Newman told reporters before the network’s upfront presentation this morning, reports Entertainment Weekly. “We want to thank and reward our fans by keeping it in that time period… The stories we’ve heard already for season two will blow away the audience.”;
Added Fox CEO Dana Walden, “We’ve also got amazing guest stars that have lined up to be on the show that will help us not only bring back an audience that fell in love with the show, but help expand it as well.”;
Those guest stars were announced during Empire“s upfront presentation, when it was revealed that Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Alicia Keys will be among the stars to appear in Empire“s second season.
Walden also teased “some exciting plans that will kick off in June”; (a live concert tour, perhaps?) but didn’t provide any details. Stay tuned!
