According to Essence:

Terrence And Taraji Cover Entertainment Weekly; Explain Why They’ve Never Been Lovers
Cookie and Lucious have arrived.

Our favorite Wednesday night duo landed this week’s cover of Entertainment Weekly, and inside the pages, both Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard dish on how their long history led up to the empire that is “Empire.”Henson said that after reading the script for the show, she knew Howard was the only viable option for Lucious’ character.

“I just knew it had to be him,” she said. “When I read the script, I was like, ‘This is that deep love that you can’t explain, that you just see, and Terrence and I have that for each other.”

Howard didn’t disagree. He recalled his chemistry—or lack thereof—with Henson while filming 2006’s Hustle & Flow.

“We’re like father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister,” he said. “We’ve never been lovers. When I was doing Hustle & Flow, I was like,  ‘I know I’m playing this character right if all my female co-leads want to sleep with me.’ Taraji was the only one that didn’t want to.”

Empire is an American musical drama television series which debuted on Fox on January 7, 2015. The show centers around a hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Enterprises, and the drama among the members of the founders' family as they fight for control of the company. The hour-long family drama was created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, and stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

On January 17, 2015, the series was renewed for a second season