Lee Daniels: Working on Fox hit 'Empire' was 'absolutely the worst experience'

Lee Daniels became Hollywood royalty with his film and TV empire, but Fox's "Empire" wasn't his favorite.

The Oscar-nominated director opened up about his new buzzy Netflix film "The Deliverance" in a recent interview with The Film Stage, but he also got candid about working on his now-canceled Fox hit.

"Horrible. Absolutely the worst experience. Horrible!" Daniels said. "But guess what? ... That money, money, money! I was able to put my kids through college." He told the outlet that helping his family "in itself was worth it."

The show, which aired on Fox from 2015 to 2020, was a modern-day Black "Dynasty" set in the hip-hop scene, starring actor Terrence Howard as a label boss and Taraji P. Henson as his ex-wife, who was recently released from jail.

'Empire' series finale:How the show reworked the ending after coronavirus halted production

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At the time of its premiere, "Empire" was one of Fox's biggest hits. The show also followed Howard's character as he chose which son would take over the family business: savvy but bipolar Andre (Trai Byers); gay R&B phenom Jamal (Jussie Smollett); and blinged-out rapper-on-the-rise Hakeem (Bryshere Gray).

Now, Daniels is finding Netflix gold with his newest effort: "The Deliverance," which follows the true story of Latoya Ammons, who claimed her children had been victimized by demons.

'Empire' producers hoped series would return with proper finale

"Empire" came to an end in April 2020 after the coronavirus-related production shutdown forced producers to refashion the two episodes scheduled before the finale – one half-filmed – into one series closer.

At the time, "Empire" producers said they hoped to make an actual series finale, which would have been the sixth season's 20th episode.

"We want to be able to film the intended finale we came up with and think we owe it to the fans to do that. We know that there are tremendous obstacles. We don't know when production will start again. We don't know who will be available when that happens," showrunner Brett Mahoney said. "But it is something we'd like to do. And if we can't do it, hopefully we can find some creative way to at least get the script out."

Contributing: Andrea Mandell, Bill Keveney, Brian Truitt