Lucious Lyon (born Dwight Walker) is a fictional character from the Fox drama series Empire, portrayed by Terrence Howard. Lucious is the main protagonist and anti-hero of the series. Created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, Lucious is the founder and CEO of Empire Entertainment, a record company that he runs with his family. Realizing he will need a successor after he is diagnosed with ALS, Lucious pits his three sons: the college-educated executive Andre Lyon (Trai Byers), the talented and gay singer-songwriter Jamal (Jussie Smollett), and youngest, rapper Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray), against one another. The story has parallels to William Shakespeare's King Lear and James Goldman's The Lion in Winter, while the character of a rapper and music mogul is loosely based on several real-life figures, including rappers, record producers and politicians. Lyon is married to former wife, drug dealer, ex-con, and former partner of Empire Entertainment, Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson).
Creation and development
Creator Lee Daniels took influence from his own father in creating the character: "Lucious is a lot of my dad." Daniels also drew inspiration from several well respected men in the music industry including "Berry Gordy to Gamble and Huff to Jay Z to Puffy to Quincy Jones." Howard described himself as "megalomaniac" to which Lee Daniels responded, "The character's a megalomaniac." Howard replied in turn, "You need to be a megalomaniac to play a megalomaniac." When they started production, Howard thought to play Lucious with his "head down or be softhearted about something," but Daniels stated that "Lucious owns the world." Howard said the first few episodes are basically him doing an impersonation of Daniels. Howard also drew on inspiration from the 1972 film, The Godfather. "[Lucious] wants to be Michael Corleone, but sometimes he's stuck at being Sonny." Lucious does his best to "get rid of his emotions," Howard said. However, his emotions always sneak up on him and "keep him human." Howard had some admiration for his character. "I love that Lucious is unapologetic about who he is" and that he has a "backbone of pure determination." However, Howard said what rubs him the wrong way about Lucious is his "inability to connect with the people that really mean the most to him."
In an interview Howard said "for me to play a character that is Archie Bunker, or really the rest of America unmasked, Lucious says exactly how he feels when he feels it... And despite who's watching because he has five billion dollars and doesn't need anybody's approval." Howard is allowed to play someone who is "brutally, objectively and subjectively honest, in every circumstance."
Casting and portrayal On February 19, 2014, it was announced that Academy Award-nominated actor Terrence Howard had been in cast in the role of Lucious Lyon, the head of Empire Entertainment, which he is about to take public. Howard had recently appeared in Lee Daniels and Danny Strong's 2013 film The Butler. On taking the role, Howard explained that there is no longer a "distinction" between the stage, film or television. He had done movies, but stated that "the work I find on this show is more challenging than 90 percent of the roles in film, and that's what you want as an artist." Those challenges helped Howard grow as an artist. Daniels admitted that he did have another actor besides Terrence Howard in mind for the role, and initially refused to disclose the actor's name. He later admitted that the other actor was Wesley Snipes, but Taraji P. Henson, who had already been in talks with the producers to play Cookie, suggested her former co-star Howard for the role. Otherwise, Henson would have declined her role. Howard and Henson worked together on the 2005 independent film, Hustle & Flow, for which Howard received his Academy Award nomination. "He had to be incredibly charming and charismatic and likable," Danny Strong said of any actor playing Lucious. While Henson recommended Howard because she thought he "classed up this whole hip-hop thing," Daniels had not initially been impressed with Howard. Daniels initially thought Howard was "too pretty," and accredited the 1998 film Spark with changing his mind about Howard as an actor. But Daniels was still hesitant; "I didn't think Terrence was interested in TV." However, Howard said he agreed to the role because he enjoyed working with Daniels on The Butler. "Anywhere you go, I'm going," Howard told Daniels. After Howard first read the script, he was very skeptical of the show and its portrayal of homosexuality. He initially referred to the script as "crap" and said that he wasn't sure how "ready the world was" to be shown "two black men kissing." Howard later admitted that he was "so wrong," saying that "[The homophobic environment]'s the environment I grew up in. That's the environment my friends grew up in. So this is a show aimed towards the black demographic. And do you really think that this is going to fly?" Howard even personally called Fox and told them, "'You need to take the kissing out, because this is going to stop, shut down the show."
In response to the controversy surrounding his casting and whether he should have been excluded from the project because of his alleged past, Howard said "I hope that nothing will take away from the truly special project we all worked so hard on. I hope people enjoy it because it has been such a wonderful experience working with this cast and Fox." Danny Strong admitted that he was not made aware of Howard's past until several months into the project. Strong said that while he did not condone Howard's alleged past behavior, "it is the polar opposite of what I've experienced with him, one-on-one and on set." Producer Brian Grazer put faith in Howard to "do right." Howard is a "guy that cares a lot... and he's been great with us on our sets, so I can only speak to that," Grazer continued. Fox executive Dana Walden described Howard as "a great partner." Walden explained that while it was the choice of the creators to hire Howard, the actor had impressed her and her co-chair Gary Newman. Walden also admitted that she and Newman were not made aware of the allegations until December 2014. By that time, Howard had been working with the network for nearly a year and showed no signs of trouble.
Personality
Homophobia Much like Lee Daniels' own father, Lucious is severely homophobic and extremely unapologetic about it. Daniels revealed that the decision to make Lucious homophobic stemmed from his experiences doing research for Precious. "Homophobia is rampant in the African American community" Daniels stated. "I wanted to blow the lid off more on homophobia in my community," Daniels continued. The openly gay Daniels recalled his father's point of view on his sexuality: "You're an African-American man, that's hard enough. You're going to throw gay on top of it? What are you doing? You have a choice. Do you really want to go through [life] like this?" "What we're doing is telling a little bit of the story of Lee growing up in that way," Terrence Howard said, referring to the scene in which Lucious throws his 4-year-old son Jamal in a trash bin when the boy puts on his mother's heels. That scene was based on Daniels' actual experience with his own father. Howard elaborated on his experience during the scene: "Watching Lee while we were shooting this — at one point, he had to look away because he was in tears, because he was facing it. His mother was also there on the set. It was cathartic for Lee." Howard continued, "Lee would not allow me to show any compassion in the scene. He reminded me how much Lucious loved little Jamal, but my need for the boy to be a strong man was greater than my need to show my love to him. That was a difficult scene." Danny Strong initially did not tell Daniels about the decision to incorporate that part of his life story into the series because he feared Daniels would reject the idea. Howard revealed that his own father was also terribly homophobic and it scared him too. But "that's what's taught in most [African-American and Latino] households", Howard explained. "What we're really trying to do is give people an opportunity to see what they're doing is painful," the actor continued. From Lucious' point of view, as a hip hop mogul, "He is supposed to be the epitome of a 'man' in the black community. He's raising three [strong] sons." Lucious feels that Jamal's homosexuality detracts from that powerful image.
When asked about the reason for the character's homophobia, show runner Ilene Chaiken said, "The why isn't something we've asked because I don't think there is a why." It just is. It could be "generational" and "cultural" or it could just be his personal beliefs, "but it's not surprising that it would be his point of view," Chaiken responded. "We don't talk about there being a specific incident in his life that made him homophobic," because usually there isn't one. According to Chaiken, creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong viewed Lucious' homophobia as "[T]he most important storyline." They went on to state: "It’s central. We want to continue to play it, and play it with authenticity and roughness. We don’t want to soften it in any way." By the end of Season one, Lucious is able to put his homophobia aside for the greater good of Empire. Jussie Smollett said of Lucious' evolution and eventual acceptance of Jamal's sexuality, "[W]here you meet Jamal and Lucious in the pilot is not where Jamal and Lucious end up. There's a journey, a certain level of growth, and that's the truth of humanity." Smollett clarified that Lucious' evolution was not a complete reversal of his beliefs, but rather, a step in the right direction: "It's not to say that Lucious is going to be this incredible parent that supports his kid and goes and stands on the sidelines of gay marches, but it does mean that we're holding up a mirror and being like, "Lucious, if those are your points of view, as odd and jaded and bullshit as they are, if those are your points of view, the least you can do — the least you can do — is respect your child." Co-creator Danny Strong said of the character's growth, "Lucious has had the most profound arc of the season when it comes to his understanding and acceptance of his son's sexuality, and it was sort of one of the driving ideas of the season thematically with addressing homophobia in a way that was honest."
ALS diagnosis