This weekend at the ATX Television Festival, Empire executive producer and co-creator Danny Strong spoke to BuzzFeed News about the hip-hop musical drama and its tremendous first season.
Empire experienced great success in the ratings all throughout its debut season. It saw an increase in ratings for ten consecutive weeks and had the highest-rated season finale for a freshman drama since Grey’s Anatomy in 2005.
With all the hype surrounding Empire, BuzzFeed News asked Strong if he was feeling any pressure in regards to season two. “I don’t think about the pressure at all,” he said. “I don’t feel an overwhelming sense of pressure because of the audience size. I think about it in the same way I think about it when we had zero viewers, which is, What’s the best story and how do we tell it? Maybe that’s stupid, but my own desire to make something good supersedes any desire for what I’m going to get in return for it.”
Strong also hinted at what’s to come for season two. “We have a storyline that we know is going to enrage a big number of people, but it’s a really good story and I kind of love the idea that people are going to be enraged by it…It’s going to really piss people off, but it’s good. Knowing there’s this kind of bomb we’re going to drop is exciting, but that’s a rare time when I think about the viewers.”
“I love that we’re taking a genre that’s a very mainstream genre and telling a very subversive story within that genre — tackling homophobia and race relations and bipolar disorder,” he added. “I love the epic Game of Thrones-like battle that exists in this show … I just like good stories and I think we’re telling a good story.”
Check out who is slated to appear on the second season of Empire, which premieres Wednesday, September 23rd.
