There’s a little bit of the Lyon family in all of us
|||MUNYA VOMO
Although people love the music drama Empire for the unpredictable storylines, we can’t deny that there is also a lot of eye-candy.
When Terrence Howard and Taraji P Henson came to South Africa a few weeks ago, they were met by many fans who watch the show. Needless to say, there would be a stampede if the boys Bryshere Gray, Jussie Smollet and Trai Bryers were to come to Mzansi. The trio share what to expect in the latest season of Empire now on our screens.
“To sum it up, this may be one of the best seasons of Empire. The drama, the music, the rivals. There’s just so much going on?. We try to make it a sandwich and change it from how it was on season two and how we were in season one. It gives you a different feel of what the show’s about,” said Gray who plays Hakeem, the youngest of the brothers.
“There’ll be dragons. It’ll be butterflies. Yeah. It’s a lot of OMG moments, but they reveal our storylines, because there are lots of flashbacks, teen lushes, and that’s interesting. And it’s a lot; a lot going on between the brothers, the three brothers. We’re just trying to get it on track,” he added.
The storyline is sometimes based in Philadelphia, from where Gray hails, so he gets to relive some of his past experiences through the show.
“Well, the family is based in Philly and I’m the only actor from west Philly. So it kind of resonates with me more and a lot of situations that I’ve been through in Philly I am actually now reliving on the show. I proposed before in real life and it was awkward. What else?
“I never been kidnapped before, but I was robbed a long time ago. And a lot more things. You know, performing on a boat, I did that before, and it was just like the situations started adding up,” recalled Gray.
It is these experiences that Gray uses to help mould the character of Hakeem, making him a believable young man who is coming of age in the music industry.
“I feel like Hakeem, since he’s not a real character, I have to give some of my past experiences to try to build that foundation of who he is. You know, I’m trying to build that person into Hakeem, so of course I have to draw on some real-life situations I’ve been through. I feel like people have an understanding of who he is and what the take is on him.
“That’s why I say, when you see season three, you just see the growth and you see him in a different light,” he said.
While some people like Gray’s character, it is undeniable that there are more fans who enjoy what Smollett, who plays Jamal, has to offer the show. He is the silky voiced and almost shy character who shows his vulnerability through song. The good thing is Smollett knows that people love what he does.
“Yeah. They love Jamal. They love the characters. I mean, there’s a certain dynamic that is similar in the sense that my family in real life, just like Jamal’s family, we do business together. But you know, we’re a family, so I understand the family dynamic. I also understand the greatness and the want to work together as a family. I also understand the difficulties that can arise from working together, but we just don’t have that element that the Lyons have of kind of the cut-throat. You know, we’re not even cut-throat to people we don’t know and we’re certainly not cut-throat to each other,” he said.
Byers, who plays his on-screen brother Andre, agreed on that point, saying that Empire’s very existence depends on the family dynamics that we all know a thing or two about.
“I’ve said this before, but a lot of people, all families, I think, in whatever group it is, I don’t know, but all families have skeletons in the closet. All families have stigmas that they want to get away from and not really delve into or reveal to the rest of the family or to the world. It makes you less perfect. It makes you now a little bit more moral than some people would like to be, I think. And yeah, so there’s a little bit of a Lyon family in my family. There’s a little bit of a Lyon family in other families that I have been able to observe at the dinner table. You know what I mean?” said Byers.
Empire airs at 9pm on Thursdays on Fox, (DStv channel 125).