Photo of Alicia Keys by Trae Patton
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Alicia Keys, Chris Rock and Lenny Kravitz are among the stars already set to appear in the second season of Empire, which will premiere this fall.

Fox on Monday confirmed its new juggernaut will increase from 12 episodes to 18 in season two, with half airing in the fall and the rest in the spring, as the network hopes to profit from the hip-hop soap's powerful ratings.

Interestingly, Fox's Sleepy Hollow premiered in 2013 with 13 episodes and also increased to 18 in its second season, but critics have since questioned that move as possibly "killing" the show's creativity as the storylines were stretched out.