The undeniably phenomenal television series of today, Empire, has not yet concluded its first season but news for possible guests and plot spoilers have been relentlessly surfacing. One of the most highly anticipated speculation, however, is the possible inclusion of the one and only Oprah Winfrey in the show's second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee Daniels, one of the executive producers of Empire, admitted himself of the goal to cast Oprah as one of the guests in the upcoming season. However, it appears that he has to work harder on convincing the iconic figure as she remains reluctant on agreeing to the offer.
"I tell him: 'Lee, it's not enough that you've taken every viewer possible on Wednesday night, now you want me to leave my own network?'" Oprah shared when asked about her reaction to the request. Her response was met by an amused Daniels who said, "I'm wearing her down!"
Meanwhile, Danny Strong, the show's co-creator, told PEOPLE that his "only hope" for the upcoming season is for the entire team to "keep it (the show) as strong, quality-wise, as this season." He added that he believes the team could achieve the said goal but admitted that the show could be "really challenging" to "put together." He further emphasized that he "just want the show to stay as good as it can be."
"As for the Oprah of it all," the co-creator further said, "I mean, Lee has been throwing out name after name and who knows if we are going to get some of these people or not. I'm less concerned about that. I mean, it would be exciting to get them but at the end of the day we have to deliver the story of the Lyon family and all the drama that ensues with that."
Strong also shared his plans of increasing the number of writers to work on the series. "I wanted to bring in some playwrights because we have these delicious soap turns but we also have very layered character development," he disclosed when asked about the team's plans following the nearing finale of the current season.
Apart from this, the co-creator added that he wants to add incorporate poorer African-Americans characters in the show as they already succeeded in featuring "opulence" among the cast. Hence, he now wants them "to go back to where they come from," referring to the humble beginnings of the characters.
