Empire Season 2 Cast News: As Season 1 Finale Nears, Fox Courts Oprah to Join New Season

If a show wants to keep its ratings at the top, it better gets Oprah for its next season.

And this appears to be the game plan that "Empire" has been contemplating to do for its next move ahead of its two-hour finale next week.

Fox head David Madden said Fox is not very keen to wait until mid-season to bring the show back, given its enormous success.

And while "Empire" creator Danny Strong is receptive to the idea of expanding the second season to more than 12 episodes, showrunner Lee Daniels is adamant to keep the season short and tight.

But both Strong and Daniels agree that it will need something more than soap and songs to sustain its strong performance in the future.

If you ask Daniels, he thinks making the show less opulent and focusing on the humble beginnings of Cookie and Lucius will do wonders.

Vanity Fair said Daniels would like the show to have a clear focus on where Cookie and Lucius come from while Strong wants to balance the soap of the plot line with the "layered character development."

And to keep the viewers glued on the show, Daniels dropped the possibility of Oprah making an appearance next year. Daniels did invite Oprah to the show.

According to Vanity Fair, Oprah replied this way: "I tell him: 'Lee, it's not enough that you've taken every viewer possible on Wednesday night. Now you want me to leave my own network?"

Daniels has been taking Oprah's statement as encouragement, promising, "I'm wearing her down!"

The hip-hop-themed drama bowed to a 3.8 rating in early January before growing to more than 50 percent eight weeks after its premiere, an increase bigger than that of any other new broadcast series in a decade.

The March 4 episode of "Empire" notched a staggering 5.8 rating with about 14.3 million total viewers, making it the top-rated TV drama in the U.S., The Hollywood Reporter said.

As the series is set to wrap up its first season on March 18, the fourth-place Fox network — down nearly 25 percent this season, even with "Empire" — is shifting its focus to sustaining the show's megahit status.