'Empire' to Put Production on Hold
by EG
Empire is not the ratings monster it once was, but it's still a solid performer for Fox. That's why there's no reason to be alarmed at the news that the show's writers have asked for brief pause in production so that they can work on the second half of the season. Such a break is not unusual, and the series' producers say that the production hiatus will not affect the air schedule for the back half of the season.
Empire is pressing the pause button.
The hip-hop drama is set to take a production hiatus to plot the back-half of its current fourth season.
The break will begin tomorrow, Nov. 8, once filming has completed on episode 409, and is expected to last somewhere between two and three weeks. The hiatus is expected to give the writers time to catch up and plot out the eight remaining episodes of the season, beginning with episode 410.
The break would not impact the show's on-air schedule, as Empire normally takes a several-month-long break in the middle of the TV season following the fall finale, which is expected to air sometime in December.
This is old practice for the 20th Century Fox Television drama, which has instituted a similar break on every other season of the heavily serialized drama, starring Taraji. P. Henson and Terrence Howard.
While ratings have dipped from the show's breakout first season, Empire continues to rank as the network's top drama.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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