History Series / Empire

* TheTeam: The VillainProtagonist Lyons family at the beginning of season 1.
** BigBad: Lucious, ThePatriarch and founder and CEO of Empire Entertainment. He made his fortune as a rapper / singer in the 90s, and set the style for Empire.
** TheDragon / DarkMistress: Anika, head of A&R and Lucious' current lover who's always at his side.
** EvilGenius: Andre, Lucious and Cookie's eldest child and Empire's CFO and the show's resident ManipulativeBastard and [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. Similar to how most of TheSmartGuy are not good fighters, he's the only male Lyon who's not a good musician.
** TheBrute / TagalongKid: Hakeem, Lucious and Cookie's youngest child who is the least involved in the business outside of making fierce music.
** TheHeart / TokenGoodTeammate: Jamal, Lucious' and Cookie's second child. The most independent of the Lyon children, makes the most sensitive and stylish music. He rejects Luscious to earn respect by making it on his own.
** Rhonda, Andre's wife and Empire's fashion editor. She's a FemmeFatale, and her quirk is being the only white person in the main cast.
** SixthRanger: Cookie, Lucious' ex-wife and co-founder of Empire. While she's technically the real [[TheDragon Dragon]], she only "joined" the company after serving nearly two decades in prison. She forces her way into becoming CoDragons with Anika, with shades of TheStarscream since she plans to groom Jamal to supplant Hakeem as Luscious' heir. [[spoiler: It works but not in the way she expected in the Season 1 finale.]]

* BlackSheep: Initially Jamal due to his homosexuality, but later Hakeem and Andre fall out of favor with Lucious for different reasons. Slightly subverted in that Cookie has always accepted Jamal, [[MissingMom she just wasn't around]] [[{{Prison}} to protect him]].

* ButNotTooBlack: Even if most of the show's cast is African American, all of the the main ensemble's skin tone is on the lighter end of the spectrum.

* RatedMForManly: The reason for Lucious' homophobia. He isn't morally against it, as proven by his positive reaction to Tiana being bi, but is ashamed and embarrassed that his son is "another man's bitch." [[spoiler:Even when Jamal comes out at Lucious' white party to a thunderous applause and positive news hype the next day and Cookie spells it out to Lucious that nobody has a problem with it, he is still too set in his ways to accept it.]]

** TheDarkChick: Rhonda, Andre's wife and Empire's fashion editor. She's a FemmeFatale, and her quirk is being the only white person in the main cast.

** Naturally, lions are often associated with the Lyon family. A few references have been made to [[Literature/TheBible Daniel in the Lion's Den]], and members of the family have been known to refer to themselves as Lyons in both ways.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: [[spoiler: A non-romantic example happens between Anika and Rhonda. Before their persumed final showdown, Rhonda confronts Anika by slapping her in the face]].

* PlayingGertrude: Taraji P. Henson is 44 years old, only 12 years older than the actors playing her sons.

* KingmakerPlot: Season 1 is basically this. Cookie wants Jamal to be the successor to Empire, while Lucious wants Hakeem and Vernon wants Andre.

* TheDreaded: Cookie considers Frank Gathers this.

* TheDutifulSon: Andre, on the surface.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon [[BigScrewedUpFamily Family]] from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[TeamMom Cookie]], [[StraightGay Jamal]], [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Hakeem]]. [[RuleOfSymbolism On the throne]]: [[VillainProtagonist Lucious]].]]

The show centers around a hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Entertainment, and the drama surrounding founder and successful rapper Lucious Lyon (Creator/TerrenceHoward), and his three sons: business-minded but bipolar Andre (Creator/TraiByers), who will do anything to depose his brothers and impress his wife Rhonda (Creator/KaitlinDoubleday); musically passionate Jamal (Creator/JussieSmollett), the black sheep of the family thanks to his homosexuality, and aspiring rapper Hakeem (Creator/BryshereGrey), Lucious' [[LikeFatherLikeSon favorite because he takes after him the most.]] Wait, did we say that Lucious was the founder? Turns out that's actually his ex-wife, Cookie (Creator/TarajiPHenson), who's just been released from prison after taking the fall for Lucious during their drug running years and is hell-bent on reclaiming the company she believes is rightfully hers. Rounding out the cast is Vernon Turner (Creator/MalikYoba), Lucious' business partner, and Anika Calhoun (Creator/GraceGealey), Lucious' romantic partner.

* TakeThat: Two to Music/FiftyCent, who produces the [[DuellingWorks rival series]] ''Power'':

** And also ''Series/{{Dynasty1981}}'', albeit roughly. Patriarch (Blake/Lucious) whose ex-wife rolls into town and causes trouble (Alexis/Cookie). He has a younger second wife/fiancee (Krystle/Anika) who gets into catfights with the ex-wife. The oldest child is a promiscuous schemer who wants more responsibility with the company except Daddy ignores them for some reason (Fallon [woman]/Andre [not a musician]), and another child is unfavored for being gay (Steven/Jamal). Granted, this doesn't take into account the kids that were retconned into ''Dynasty'' later, but it's an apt comparison for the early seasons.

** EvilGenius: Andre, Lucious and Cookie's eldest child and Empire's CFO and the show's resident ManipulativeBastard and [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. Similar to how most {{Smart Guy}}s are not good fighters, he's the only male Lyon who's not a good musician.

* RealityEnsues: The whole show is a good realistic portrayal of how toxic the music industry can be.

''Empire'' is an American musical drama television series. Debuting on Creator/{{FOX}} on January 7, 2015, it's produced by Lee Daniels and features music composed by Timbaland. Pitched as ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' at a record label.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon [[BigScrewedUpFamily Family]] from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[TeamMom Cookie]], [[StraightGay Jamal]], [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Hakeem]]. [[RuleOfSymbolism On the throne]]: Lucious.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon [[BigScrewedUpFamily Family]] from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[TeamMom Cookie]], Jamal, [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Hakeem]]. [[RuleOfSymbolism On the throne]]: Lucious.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon [[BigScrewedUpFamily Family]] from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[TeamMom Cookie]], Jamal, [[BabyOfTheBunch Hakeem]]. [[RuleOfSymbolism On the throne]]: Lucious.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon [[BigScrewedUpFamily Family]] from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[ApronMatron Cookie]], Jamal, [[LikeFatherLikeSon Hakeem]]. On the throne: Lucious.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon Family from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], [[ApronMatron Cookie]], Jamal, [[LikeFatherLikeSon Hakeem]]. On the throne: Lucious.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Lyon Family from left to right: [[TheDutifulSon Andre]], Cookie, Jamal, [[LikeFatherLikeSon Hakeem]]. On the throne: Lucious.]]

The show centers around a hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Entertainment, and the drama surrounding founder and successful rapper Lucious Lyon (Creator/TerrenceHoward), and his three sons: business-minded but bipolar Andre (Creator/TraiByers), who will do anything to depose his brothers and impress his wife Rhonda (Creator/KaitlinDoubleday); musically passionate Jamal (Creator/JussieSmollett), the black sheep of the family thanks to his homosexuality, and aspiring rapper Hakeem (Creator/BryshereGrey), Lucious' [[Like Father, Like Son favorite because he takes after him the most]] . Wait, did we say that Lucious was the founder? Turns out that's actually his ex-wife, Cookie (Creator/TarajiPHenson), who's just been released from prison after taking the fall for Lucious during their drug running years and is hell-bent on reclaiming the company she believes is rightfully hers. Rounding out the cast is Vernon Turner (Creator/MalikYoba), Lucious' business partner, and Anika Calhoun (Creator/GraceGealey), Lucious' romantic partner.