If you’ve been waiting for the season two premiere of Fox’s "Empire" on Wednesday, you might want to catch a special sneak-peek of it this weekend in Gainesville.
Reitz Union Board Entertainment was able to get Fox, one of the biggest media conglomerates, to preview the new season almost a week in advance.
The screening will take place Friday at GatorNights, a free event held every Friday where students can watch movies and participate in activities.
Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and students will be able to see the first 15 minutes of the never-before-seen season premiere.
"Ted 2" will follow with screenings at 8 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., said Joshua Wilson, the program coordinator of GatorNights.
Wilson said RUB Entertainment was notified about the special screening through promoters who were looking to get a word in about their show. They knew the Reitz Union screened movies, he said.
Columbia Records, which produces the soundtrack for the show, is also providing giveaways at the event.
"They connected with us to see if that is something we would be interested in," Wilson said, "and, us knowing that a lot of students watch the show, and that it’s had a lot of success, we said that we would be interested in showing the premiere."
The show features a mixture of suspense, romance and violence, and millions tune in each week to watch what unfolds.
Among the show’s Gator fans is 20-year-old UF English junior Mariah Tennell.
"I think my favorite character is Cookie because she wants her family, but she doesn’t… want to be robbed from what she had worked on, too," Tennell said.
Cookie’s strength as a mother, potential lover and businessperson is a positive figure to Tennell.
Attending Friday night’s premiere might draw a few to the Lyons den.
Twenty-year-old telecommunication junior Clara Lavarre is among those who got hooked —all thanks to Twitter.
"I’d see people live-tweeting and active on Twitter and everyone’s like, ‘You need to watch this; it’s such a good show,’" Lavarre said, "and I was like, ‘Uh, I’m not really like a TV person,’ and then once I got up to episode three I was like, ‘Wow, this is really well-written.’"
Pictured above is the official season two artwork of Fox’s "Empire." A special preview of the new season will be held at the Reitz Union on Friday. Season two will air Wednesday on Fox.
