Nicole Ari Parker Promoted to Series Regular for FOX’s ‘Empire’ Season 5

It’s going to be a major feud between the Lyons and Giselle Barker once Empire Season 5 premieres this fall. Nicole Ari Parker, who plays Giselle, has been promoted to series regular for the fifth season of FOX’s hit hip-hop musical drama, according to Deadline.

It’s been a flurry of highs and lows for the Lyon family, as the first half of Empire Season 4 had them deal with the DuBois. When the second half premiered, the Barkers stepped in and posed a significant threat to Terrence Howard’s media mogul Lucious Lyon. Giselle is the beautiful trophy ex-wife to Forrest Whitaker’s Eddie Barker. Now that they have parted ways, Giselle wants to grab the power all to herself. According to the report, Giselle will also “tackle grudges, make unexpected alliances and find a surprising love interest.”

In an interview with TVLine, Empire’s showrunner, Brett Mahoney, says that it’s going to be a difficult battle for the Lyons for the fifth season. Eddie emerged victorious in the finale of season 4, and now Lucious has to do everything he can to regain control over Empire.

“It’s going to be a much more difficult process that Cookie thinks it’s going to be,” Mahoney said. “And it’ll tear at the relationship between Cookie and Lucious and the boys, in terms of trying to achieve that goal.”

Parker joins Empire‘s incredible roster for the main cast—Terence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere “Yazz” Gray, Trai Byers, Grace Byers, Gabourey Sidibe, Ta’Rhonda Jones, Serayah, Xzibit, Rumer Willis, Andre Royo and Terrell Carter.

Empire Season 5 returns Wednesday night at 8/9c this fall on FOX.