Taraji P. Henson will be returning to play her popular character Cookie Lyon in an upcoming Empire spinoff for Fox.
The new show will be the initial product of her recently signed first look-deal with 20th Century Fox TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sources familiar with the new project said it could bring closure to Empire, which ended for good two episodes shy of its intended series finale after production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Back at it: Taraji P. Henson, 49, will reprise her role as Cookie Lyon in an untitled Empire spinoff as part of a new two-year first-look deal with 20th Century Fox TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter; shown in March
Sources familiar with the deal said that the new show will follow Cookie as she relocates to Los Angeles, and it may feature appearances by some of her children.
When co-creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong announced that the show would not receive its intended series finale, they seemingly left open the possibility of a spin-off to help conclude the story.
Although 20 episodes were to be produced for the sixth and final series, only 18 were completed.
Rather than waiting to finish the season, Fox chose to air the 18th episode as the finale, though scenes from the incomplete 19th episode were edited in to help add closure.
New digs: Sources familiar with the deal said that the new show will follow Cookie as she relocates to Los Angeles, and it may feature appearances by some of her children; pictured with Terrence Howard in Empire
Gone too soon: Although 20 episodes were to be produced for the sixth and final series, only 18 were completed. Empire’s creators previously suggested a spin-off could wrap up the show
‘I believe that normalizing stories around stigmatizing matters will make them more palatable for audiences to embrace,’ Henson, 49, said in a statement about her first-look deal.
‘Art can change perception and I plan to develop projects that can help further the conversation. I also aim to help cultivate and establish new young talent and their stories because they are our future and deserve a voice and a platform to be heard.’
Twentieth Century Fox TV president Carolyn Cassidy also weighed in on the new deal.
‘We were lucky to have a front row seat to Taraji’s meteoric rise as a fixture on television through Empire. Through that relationship everyone at the company grew to appreciate her passion for storytelling and her strong creative gut instinct. With Empire finished we look forward to helping her explore stories that need to be told through her talent and advocacy,’ she wrote.
New perceptions: ‘Art can change perception and I plan to develop projects that can help further the conversation,’ wrote Henson in a statement; pictured in March
Continuity: Danny Strong, who created Empire with Lee Daniels, will share writing and showrunner duties with Yolanda Lawrence and Stacy A. Littlejohn; pictured in 2019 with his wife Caitlin Mehner
Strong will co-write the series and share showrunner duties with Yolanda Lawrence and Stacy A. Littlejohn, both of whom also worked on the original show.
Henson will executive produce the spinoff with the three, as well as Daniels and Sanaa Hamri, who has been tapped to direct.
Brian Grazer and Samie Falvey will also return as executive producers.
Daniels has previously been vocal about his desire for an Empire spin-off, and he previously co-created the series Star, which featured crossover episodes with Empire, even though it wasn’t technically considered a spin-off.
Dead end: Another Cookie-centric project, this time focusing on her early life, was previously discussed in 2017, though nothing came of it
Coming soon: Next year, she’ll appear with Steve Carell in the animated sequel Minions: The Rise Of Gru, for which she’s already completed her voice work
Another Cookie-centric project, this time focusing on her early life, was previously discussed in 2017, though nothing came of it.
Though Henson’s output has been slowed by the pandemic, she appeared in the Netflix original action comedy Coffee & Kareem, which premiered in early April to mostly negative reviews.
Next year, she’ll appear in the animated sequel Minions: The Rise Of Gru, for which she’s already completed her voice work.
The family-friendly film will chart the origins of Steve Carell’s lovable villain, while introducing her as Belle Bottom, the leader of the Vicious 6.