Fox announced on Monday that Queen Latifah will star in a new pilot Empire co-creator Lee Daniels is developing for the network. She will be the main attraction, as the three other leads will be played by unknowns.
Latifah will star as Carlotta, who owns an Atlanta beauty salon and is a surrogate mother to a trio of girls who hope to make it big in the music world. Those three girls will be played by Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny and Brittany O’Grady, all unknowns discovered through a nationwide search.
Demorest and Destiny are from Detroit, while O’Grady is from Washington, DC. Demorest plays Star, while O’Grady is Simone, Star’s younger sister. Destiny is Alexandra, who grew up in New York City and moved to Atlanta to learn how to make a different kind of music.
Fox announced the project in August during the Television Critics Association Press Tour. It was first called Star, but Fox’s announcement on Monday listed the show as Untitled Lee Daniels Music Pilot.
The project comes from 20th Century Fox TV and the pilot was written by Tom Donaghy (The Whole Truth). Production starts this month.
Latifah just starred on NBC’s The Wiz Live! and was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in Chicago. She was just nominated for an Emmy for HBO’s Bessie, which won the Emmy for Best TV movie.