‘Empire’ Snags Chris Rock, Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz for Guest Roles

Upfronts 2015: Castings announced at Fox presentation in New York

Chris Rock, Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz will guest on "Empire" season 2 (Getty Images)
Getty Images

Here’s something to sing about: Fox’s hit drama “Empire” has booked Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Alicia Keys as guest stars for its second season.

The castings were announced at Fox’s upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday in New York.

Fox Television Group co-chairman and co-CEO Dana Walden made the announcement at the presentation. Character information for the trio of guest stars was not immediately available.

The series, created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, was a breakout hit for the network this year, starting out strong in the key 18-49 demographic with its January premiere and rising for several weeks after that. It’s March season finale drew a 6.5 rating in the demo, and amassed 16.7 million total viewers.

“Empire,” which counts Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson among its stars, revolves around a hip-hop music and entertainment company.

The show welcomed numerous guest stars during its initial run, including Snoop Dogg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Raven-Symone, Mary J. Blige and Patti LaBelle.

Though Kravitz and Keys are known primarily for their musical accomplishments, both do have acting credits under their belts, with Kravitz appearing in “Precious,” “The Hunger Games” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” and Keys appearing in “American Dreams,” “The Nanny Diaries” and “The Secret Life of Bees.”

Comments