Jerry PortwoodPictured: Queen Latifah in 'Bessie'
It's confirmed: Queen Latifah is coming to a Lee Daniels TV show sometime soon. The award-winning actress will star in the lead role of the as-yet-untitled music pilot for Fox, according to a press release from the network.
The new TV drama follows three young women who form a girl group with hopes of making it big in the music industry. Queen Latifah will play Carlotta, the owner of an Atlanta beauty salon with an amazing voice. She becomes the "surrogate mother" to the three girls—played by newcomers Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny, and Brittany O’Grady—even though she doesn’t approve of their musical dreams.
After experiencing Queen Latifah in HBO's Bessieand as the Wiz on NBC's The Wiz Live!, we're ready for more screentime. Just don't get it twisted: This is not an Empire spinoff.
"The possibility of a crossover at some point exists but it's definitely not what we're planning right now,"Dana Walden, Fox chairman and CEO, said over the summer, adding: "It's a modern day music business in Atlanta, and Empire is modern-day music business in New York. It's not inconceivable that the two worlds could cross. But that's definitely not Lee's intention as we go into it."
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