Terrence Howard will star in Empire, a hip hop drama pilot set up at Fox. The Butler team Lee Daniels and Danny Strong are developing the project.
The pilot was ordered by Fox last month, TheWrap reported at the time. Daniels will act as executive producer with Strong writing the pilot. Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo are also executive producing and it will be an Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV production.
Howard has been cast as Lucious Lyon, the head of the record label at the center of the plot, notes The Hollywood Reporter. He’s a no-nonsense music executive who leads Empire Entertainment, which is set to go public. He will stop at nothing to protect his beloved label.
Howard did have a part in The Butler, which Daniels directed from a script by Strong. The actor is also going to star in M. Night Shyamalan's Wayward Pines this summer for Fox. His previous TV role came in NBC’s short-lived Law & Order: Los Angeles.
On the movie side, Howard was nominated for an Oscar for Hustle & Flow and also appeared in Prisoners and The Best Man Holiday last year.
Daniels has several movie projects in the works. He recently said he wanted to make a gay superhero movie with Alex Pettyfer.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
