Not content to rest on his laurels after co-creating the biggest breakout hit in recent television history, Empire’s Lee Daniels is developing his second musical series for Fox. Daniels’ new show, tentatively titled Star, was announced by Fox’s co-chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman during their executive panel at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. Whereas Empire is set in New York’s hip hop scene, Star will be about an Atlanta-based R&B girl group, with Daniels pulling inspiration from Dreamgirls to modern-day Supremes facsimiles like Destiny’s Child and TLC.
Danny Strong, Daniels’ Empire collaborator, won’t be working on Star, but Daniels will be working with another writer who has been hired but has yet to be announced. Walden was asked if Star takes place in the same narrative universe as Empire, and she said while a crossover episode is a possibility, Star is being independently developed and is not being approached as a companion series. But it’s still on the table, so there could be an epic cat fight between Cookie Lyon and Daniels’ latest fiesty momager character, whose name should probably be Poptart Monroe.