Lee Daniels Dishes on New Show with TV Guide - Empire

The time is almost near for Empire, the Lee Daniel's created nighttime soap fest,  that has many of us waiting for it to premiere in just a few days. Mr. Daniels recently sat down with TV Guide's Michael Logan to give some the viewers some insight into what we can expect. 

Check out some excerpts from the interview: 

"Cookie is my hero — a tell-it-like-it-is everywoman who has made the ultimate sacrifice for her family," says Henson. "Lucious was every bit as guilty of the drug charges that sent Cookie to prison, but she took the fall so that he could build a company and create a future for their kids." Henson is quick to clarify that she does not advocate drug peddling. "But Cookie and Lucious did what they had to do to break the cycle that affects so many African-American lives in this country," she says. "Their children will never have to know what it's like to live in the ghetto and go without food or electricity. It's like Cookie is the 'hood version of Mama Rose from Gypsy."

And Lucious is Lear. Recently diagnosed with ALS, the Empire CEO knows that he will be incapacitated within three years and must now choose his eventual successor from among his three sons. Andre (Trai Byers), his power-hungry eldest, graduated from Wharton School of Business but lacks the star quality Lucious deems necessary to run the company. 

Middle kid Jamal (Jussie Smollett) — a sensitive, gay singer-songwriter — is a supreme embarrassment to Lucious. The youngest, Hakeem (Bryshere Gray), has extraordinary potential as a hip-hop artist and is Lucious's favorite. But the kid is a bratty fame whore with an epic sense of entitlement. What to do? Without revealing the dire reason he'll be stepping down in the future, Lucious challenges his offspring to battle it out for the crown.

Be sure and check out the premiere on January 7, 2014 on FOX.