'Empire' Season 2 release date news: More episodes, guest stars in new season

Top-rated musical family drama "Empire" is set to give its loyal fans more in its next season, expanding its number of episodes and signing up more big names in the music industry as guest stars.

According to an article on the Entertainment Weekly webiste, Fox Channel, which airs the mega-hit television series, recently announced that it will giving "Empire" a longer second season, ordering 18 episodes from the original 12 episodes.

The second season of "Empire" will also be split into two parts, with the first part airing in spring this year, while the second half will hit television screens in 2016.

Aside from securing more episodes next season, "Empire" also secured more star power to add more drama for Season 2 of the popular television series.

A separate report by Entertainment Weekly said Fox TV chairman and chief executive officer Dana Walden already confirmed to advertisers in New York that "Empire" has enlisted three big names for its second season.

These superstars are vocal powerhouse Alicia Keys, singer and "The Hunger Games" actor Lenny Kravitz, and actor-comedian Chris Rock.

Network executives and showrunners, however, have yet to give details as to the role Rock, Keys and Kravitz will play in the "Empire" universe.

"Empire" producers have also earlier floated the possibility of guesting superstar television host Oprah Winfrey and rapper Common in the show's next season, but their guest appearances have yet to be confirmed.

Aside from these, The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Grammy Award-winning artist Ne-Yo will write original music for the second season of "Empire," lending a hand to executive music producer Timbaland.

"Empire" attracted an average of 17.3 million viewers during its first season.