“Cookie” and “Lucious Lyon” are about to get a new rival on the show and she is probably someone you wouldn’t typically consider to be a rival.

NIA LONG JOINS EMPIRE

The one and only Nia Long will be joining Taraji P. Henson and Terence Howard for a recurring role where she will play a Las Vegas nightclub owner. Check out the details:

Via Deadspin: [Nia] Long will play Giuliana (Giusi), a queenpin who runs a club in Las Vegas and makes brash moves in the gangster underworld of New York to secure a deal with Empire. Sleek, sexy, and cold-blooded, she rubs elbows with Lucious (Terrence Howard) and goes toe-to-toe with Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) even as she reckons with her own mysterious past.

PHYLICIA RASHAD IS JOINING THE CAST TOO

It was also reported a few months ago that actress, Phylicia Rashad, will be playing Taye Diggs’ wealthy mother on the show:

Via TVLine:Cookie’s potential romance with Taye Diggs has hit the mother of all snags. Phylicia Rashad…will recur during Season 3 of Empire as the mom of Diggs’ ambitious city councilman Angelo Dubois, Fox announced Monday. Rashad’s Diana is a powerhouse from one of New York’s oldest and most prominent African-American families, who has her sights set on a higher office for her only son. Her interactions with Cookie, Lucious and the rest of the Lyon clan will expose the class divides that can exist within the Black community.

Now THIS should be interesting for three reasons:
1. Seeing Phylicia Rashad’s character interact with Cookie’s rawness and feisty ways should be interesting in itself.
2. Nia Long playing a villain will be a new notch under her Hollywood belt.
3. Whenever you combine heavy hitters like Ms. Rashad, Nia, Terence, Taraji, Taye Diggs, on one show, you know it’s gonna be poppin!’

JUST 5 YEARS AGO THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED!

Another interesting thing about seeing so many A-list actors under one “roof” so to speak, is that just a little over 4 or 5 years ago, many A-listers considered starring in TV series as being beneath them, or as a graveyard for an actor’s career. But ever since shows like “Scandal,” Empire and others have dominated the airwaves, there’s been a shift in that overall perception and we, the viewers are more than happy for that shift because really, TV shows would still be boring asa hell without a lil’ spice from ‘Olivia Pope and Associates’ or the ‘Empire family dynasty.’

ILOSM fam’ will you be watching Empire’s upcoming episodes?