TV Shows Like Empire
If you like Empire, here are 11 similar TV shows — each with its current AI renewal verdict, so you can see which are still going and which have been cancelled.
FOX · Drama · Empire is ended
Empire is a show that runs on excess, and it makes no apologies for that. The Lyon family is messy, ambitious and frequently terrible to one another, which is exactly why it works. Lucious Lyon sitting at the center of his music dynasty while Cookie, Andre, Jamal and Hakeem all claw for position gives the show an almost Shakespearean skeleton, but it wraps that skeleton in hip-hop, high fashion and operatic betrayals. The music industry setting keeps things glamorous, but the real engine is the family itself: the loyalty, the resentment, the history that no amount of success can buy back.
The best shows like Empire
1. Superman & Lois
Empire spends a lot of time on what it costs to hold a powerful family together under public pressure, and Superman & Lois works that same territory from a different angle. Clark and Lois are iconic figures trying to be present parents while their world keeps pulling them apart, and the show is genuinely interested in how that strain plays out between people who love each other. It is warmer and less cutthroat than Empire, but the core tension of legacy, identity and family loyalty is very much there.
Stream on HBO Max, HBO Max Amazon Channel
Ended0%
2. Casualty
Casualty is a long-running ensemble drama where the professional and personal lives of its characters bleed together constantly, which Empire fans will find familiar. The emergency department setting means the stakes are always high, and the show does not shy away from putting its characters through real emotional difficulty. It is more grounded than Empire but has the same appetite for ongoing, interlocking personal drama across a large cast.
Stream on Britbox Apple TV Channel
Likely Renewed82%
3. Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is one of the shows that proved ensemble drama could carry the weight of complicated, flawed characters all fighting for the same limited space. The police precinct functions like Empire's music company in one key way: it is an institution where personal ambition and group loyalty are always in conflict. Fans who appreciate how Empire uses its business setting as a pressure cooker for family drama will find a similar dynamic here, just with badges instead of platinum records.
Ended0%
4. Brothers and Sisters
Brothers and Sisters is probably the closest match to Empire's core appeal: a family that is deeply bound to each other and constantly doing damage because of it. The Walker family's struggles and triumphs play out with the kind of emotional honesty that makes you root for people even when they are behaving badly. If the Lyon family dynamic is what keeps you watching Empire, this show feeds exactly that hunger.
Stream on Hulu
Cancelled0%
5. Tyler Perry's The Oval
The Oval trades a music dynasty for the White House, but the template is familiar: a powerful family projecting one image to the world while everything behind closed doors is lies, betrayal and barely contained chaos. The political setting gives it a different flavor of ambition and corruption, and Tyler Perry keeps the drama big and the secrets plentiful. Empire fans who love watching powerful people unravel in real time will feel right at home.
Stream on Hulu, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Renewed100%
More on shows like Empire
Fans of Empire tend to want a few specific things in their next show. They want family dynamics that cut deep, where the people who love each other most are also the ones doing the most damage. They want power at stake, whether that's a business, a legacy or an institution. And they want drama that is not afraid to go big, stories where the emotional stakes match the dramatic ones. A slow burn procedural is not really what Empire fans are after. They want something that moves, something that keeps shuffling allegiances and raising the temperature.
The recommendations here hit those notes with different emphases. Brothers and Sisters leans hardest into the close, complicated family structure. Tyler Perry's The Oval swaps a music empire for a political one but keeps the corruption and the behind-closed-doors chaos. Superman & Lois takes a more grounded approach to a high-profile couple managing enormous pressure, trading soap operatics for earnest family drama. Casualty and Hill Street Blues are ensemble shows built around institutions, where personal and professional lives tangle constantly. None of them is Empire, but each one has something Empire fans will recognize and want more of.
The strongest matches for pure Empire energy are The Oval and Brothers and Sisters. The Oval has the scheming, the double lives and the sense that everyone in the building is hiding something serious. Brothers and Sisters has the warmth alongside the dysfunction, which is something Empire does better than it sometimes gets credit for. Casualty and Hill Street Blues are older and more grounded, but both understand how institutions shape the people inside them, and how those people carry their personal chaos into the workplace every single day. Superman & Lois is the gentler option, but it takes the idea of a famous, pressured couple trying to hold a family together and treats it with more sincerity than spectacle.
More shows like Empire
Frequently asked
- What is the most popular show like Empire?
- Superman & Lois is the most popular show similar to Empire in the IsItRenewed catalogue.
- Are shows like Empire still on the air?
- Of the 11 shows similar to Empire listed here, 3 currently carry a renewed verdict — the rest are cancelled, ended, or awaiting a decision.
- How does IsItRenewed pick shows like Empire?
- The recommendations come from TMDB's similar-titles data, and each is shown with its current AI renewal verdict so you know which are still going.