FOXThree seasons in for Empire and Cookie Lyon is as fresh as ever for Taraji P. Henson.
"I just look at her like I look at myself or any human. We're always constantly learning, growing and evolving…You've got to remember, she was locked up for 17 years. She's got a lot of catching up to do," she told members of the press at the 2016 Television Critics Association summer press tour.
Season three will find Cookie trying to break away from Lucious (Terrence Howard) for good. "Cookie's going to try in season 3 to leave Lucious, she's going to try and move on," executive producer Ilene Chaiken said. "Whether or not she can…"
"Whether or not he lets her," Henson interjected.
Season three will feature guest stars including Taye Diggs, French Montana, Birdman and, after much public talk, Mariah Carey.
"She was great. She's fabulous, she's beautiful to look at," Henson said. "Wish I could wear a leotard like that…What Mariah brings to the music industry, she brought to the show. I'm grateful she spent time with us."
As for Diggs, the panelists remained mum on whether or not he'd be a love interest for Henson's Cookie. "He certainly would like to be," Chaiken teased.
Season two ended with a big cliffhanger: Anika (Grace Gealey) and Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) fighting on the edge of a balcony, with one of them tumbling down in the final moments—though we won't find out who lives and who dies until the season premiere. While Chaiken and fellow EP Sanaa Hamri could only briefly tease a "fabulous and heart-stopping" resolution in the opening moments of the episode, what they could dish is that Cookie will spend season three really trying to draw the boundary lines in her relationships. "She will have her own agency in the story," Chaiken confirmed. "But as we said, stories always come back to the family and there's no getting away from it."
Henson's Cookie took the world by storm from the moment she first appeared on screen, launching Henson into an even bigger star orbit. To say life has changed for the actress is an understatement.
"It's bad, sir. It's getting worse every day," Henson said when asked about the impact the show has had on her life. "People forget that I have a beautiful Swahili name…They only see Cookie. Fame, that thing that I wish I could just go to work and come home…I wish I could just buy my own bag of bananas without getting 'Cookie!'… I just wish I could buy my bag of bananas without getting hit and screamed at…You got to take the good and with the bad. I'm looking into my own private jet."
Empire returns Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. on Fox.