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Empire executive producer Sanaa Hamri talks about a new romance for Cookie Lyon.
Let her tell it and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is 100% not at all going back to Lucious (Terrence Howard) - even in spite of him trying to woo her with a gold-plated gun, Loubos and a surprise performance from Biz Markie In. Her. Bedroom. (Side note: would anyone else be really freaked out to wake up and find Biz Markie in your bedroom while you were sleeping or is that just me?)
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Anyway, we can tell from the flashbacks that Cookie and Lucious' relationship thrived, in part, because little Cookie -- or Loretha, as her sister Candace (Vivica A. Fox) never hesitates to remind us -- liked a bad boy with swag. Those shots of a little fast-in-the-pants Cookie getting doe-eyed at Lucious but curving the good guy who bought her seafood and had plans to go to college says everything about how she fell for the man who became her baby daddy (and how she ended up serving time in the fed, so remember that little Cookies in training!). Those shots also inform the mounting twinkles Cookie is getting in her eye when Angelo Dubois' (Taye Diggs) comes around.
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However, as you know, almost nobody on Empire ends up being what they seem. So what's up with this dude? Is he really the good guy he seems or is he hiding something sinister?
"He's going to be mayor of New York," executive producer Sanaa Hamri tells TVGuide.com. But, not to worry: "He's a good guy. We do have characters that are who they are," she reminds us. "He just wants to do good. He's our Obama."
With Cookie now steadfastly resisting Lucious and his drama, it certainly looks like Angelo has reawakened a side of her she's left dormant too long.
"I think that's fair to say," she says. "When [Cookie] met Lucious, it changes her life forever. When she looks at Angelo he's the exact opposite of Lucious. In all our lives we meet people we aspire to be, and it's going to take her down many trials and tribulations as a woman, in terms of what she wants."
Could Cookie be trading her outrageous fashions for a twin set and pearls? That would be quite a sight.
Empire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox.