Star

Plot

Star Davis, an 18-year-old orphan, leaves her foster home to save her younger sister Simone Davis, who Star has been separated from since their mother's death, from physical and sexual abuse at her foster home. While escaping the tragedy, Star finds muse in a singer/songwriter, Alexandra Crane, a New York resident who lives in her celebrity father's shadow. Star offers Alex a proposal to escape and leave town with them to become a singing group. They move to Atlanta, Georgia and seek refuge in a surrogate godmother, Carlotta Brown, who is a close friend and singing partner of Star and Simone's mother. Carlotta made a promise to look after the girls after their mother's death and would protect them. She persuades the girls to work to make ends meet and isn't enthusiastic about the girls chasing their dreams; instead, she wants them to attend and be active in church. Finding odds to make their endeavors come true, they struggled to get a record deal and found hope in a music producer, Jahil Rivera, who took a chance on them. Within months, developing themselves as rising new artists in Atlanta, gaining the name of the group "Big Trouble", they face new troubles in their relationships with each other and with their pasts coming back to haunt them. However, they escape the many problems of their past and begin to succeed in gaining recognition. 'Big Trouble' soon won notable competitions, which led to a major record deal. The girls eventually sign with a record label, Midtown Sound, as a favor from The Lyon Family of Empire Entertainment and soon begin their journey as professional R&B/Pop artists TAKE 3. Subsequently, they learn that the music industry is hard to navigate as they sacrifice a lot to stay on top and relevant while they tour with the labels' other artist and find themselves at constant war with each other take 3 end up getting really big.

Cast and characters

Main

Jude Demorest as Star Davis:

A tough 18-year-old who spent her childhood in and out of foster homes after the death of her mother Mary. Wanting to pursue a career in music, she forms a girl group, Take 3 (formerly Big Trouble), with her half-sister Simone and friend Alex whom she met online. Though she has a lot of talent, her egotistical nature tends to bother others. At the start of the third season, she is pursuing a career as a solo artist, and dealing with the consequences of an unexpected pregnancy. In the third season mid-finale, Star gave birth to a son named Davis.

Brittany O'Grady as Simone Davis-Rivera:

Star's biracial 17-year-old half-sister. She is rescued by Star from the abusive foster home in which she was placed five years before. While supportive of her sister's ambitions, Simone has dreams of her own, and will do whatever it takes to achieve them. In Season 2, she ends up in state custody for abusing marijuana. She is then liberated from juvie by Ayanna and ends up marrying Angel in a bid to avoid being recommitted. When he is deported to the Dominican Republic, she leaves Atlanta to be with him.

Ryan Destiny as Alexandra "Alex" Crane Jones:

A wealthy 21-year-old who grew up in New York and is Star's best friend. She is looking to step out of the shadows of her famous father and make it on her own and becomes increasingly involved in political advocacy through her boyfriend Derek. However, she struggles to escape her toxic relationship with her parents, especially her alcoholic mother Rose. This leads her to slowly separate herself from the other girls in order to make a name outside of Take 3, while also dealing with the psychological aftereffects of surviving a plane crash. She and Derek later marry in the season 3 finale.

Amiyah Scott as Cotton Brown:

Carlotta's transgender daughter. She works at her mother's salon and helps the girls kickstart their career. She also has a troubled relationship with Carlotta, as the latter has not accepted her daughter's transition, and is not understanding or fully supportive of the difficulties she faces as a trans woman, although she slowly comes around. After stealing money from her boyfriend Elliot, Cotton is sent to prison, but eventually gets released. She now works with Miss Bruce to manage her mother's salon.

Recurring

Evan Ross as Angel Rivera, Jahil's nephew who helps him record new music. In turn, Jahil gets him to form a singing duo with Andy. After realizing that his uncle is more concerned with his interests than theirs, however, he fires him as their manager. He then learns that his father, Jahil's brother, is not his biological dad, and that he is an undocumented immigrant. After his attempt to get DACA protection is denied, he is arrested at Jahil's funeral and sentenced to deportation. He marries Simone in season 2 to prevent her from going back to juvie and falls in love with her. (seasons 2-3)

Caroline Vreeland as Mary Davis, Star and Simone's mother who died of a drug overdose, which turns out to have been partially caused by Star. Mary was a member of the R&B duo Mixed Harmony with Carlotta in the 1990s.

Juanita Jennings as Ruby Jones, Derek's grandmother and Carlotta's neighbor who hates Star and eventually comes around. She is later killed in the Season 3 finale.

Naomi Campbell as Rose Spencer-Crane, Alexandra's mother, who struggles with alcoholism and a failed marriage with Alex's father Roland. (seasons 1-2)

Nealla Gordon as Arlene Morgan, Hunter's mother (seasons 1-2), and Charlene (seasons 2-3). She didn't approve of Hunter's relationship with Star and blames Star for her son's death. After failing to get a police investigation, she starts blackmailing Star's father Brody to spy on his daughter. However, he stabs her to death after learning about Hunter's abuse. In season 2, Gordon also played Charlene, Arlene's twin sister who later tries to get revenge on Star for her father killing Arlene.

Jack J. Yang as Elliot Wu, Cotton's boyfriend. He abandons her when she refuses to give up prostitution, and she steals money from him for her surgery. After her release from prison, however, he gives her a secretarial job at his construction firm. He dies after being severely beaten by Cotton's former cellmate, Omari. (seasons 1–2)

Paris Jackson as Rachel Wallace, a social media expert hired by Jahil to promote Take 3. In Season 2, she becomes a consultant for Midtown Records, but leaves after Ayanna is fired. (seasons 1–2)

Guest stars

Lenny Kravitz as Roland Crane, a legendary rock star and Alexandra's father. (season 1)

Missy Elliott as Pumpkin, a legendary rapper hired by Hunter to help Star with her block party. In episode 10 of the first season, she helps Jahil produce a new song for Take 3. (season 1)

Mike Epps as Jay Holland, the former label president of Midtown Sound, but was fired and replaced by Ayanna after Star slept with him to help further Take 3's career. (season 2)

Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon, a member of the Lyon family, from New York, who co-owns a powerful record company in the music industry (Empire Entertainment), for which he also works as an artist. (season 2)

Tasha Smith as Carol Holloway, Jamal Lyon's aunt and Cookie Lyon's younger sister. (season 2)

Patti LaBelle as Christine Brown, Carlotta and Cassie's mother. (seasons 2–3)

Teyana Taylor as Joyce Sheree, a popular singer who happens to be an old friend of Noah's. Star schemes to get Joyce on one of Take 3's songs after meeting her at a party, but Noah ends up snagging her for his song instead, sparking an argument between them. Joyce ends up overdosing on cough syrup while trying to destress, and winds up hospitalized. She is still addicted to alcohol while on tour with Noah & Star despite being ordered to get clean by Carlotta and gets dropped from the tour after threatening Star with a gun during a press conference. (seasons 2–3)

Meagan Good as Natalie Knight, a promoter and Maurice's ex-girlfriend who helps set up a tour for Noah and Take 3. (seasons 2–3)

Mike Furry as Mike-Mike, Miss Ruby's rapist. He is later killed by Ruby in retaliation for raping her.

Draya Michele as Chloe David (season 3), a powerful social media influencer hired by Mateo to drum up publicity for his artists

Production

Development and casting

In August 2015, Fox announced it had ordered a pilot for a potential new musical drama series titled Star from Empire-creator Lee Daniels about three girls forming a girl group. In October that same year, casting for the series began. It was revealed that the series would feature a transgender character. On December 7, 2015, it was announced that Queen Latifah had joined the cast as Carlotta, Jude Demorest as Star, Brittany O'Grady as Simone and Ryan Destiny as Alexandra and Amiyah Scott as Cotton. On December 11, 2015, it was confirmed that Benjamin Bratt has joined the cast as Jahil, a talent manager. On December 14, 2015, Darius McCrary joined the series as the abusive foster father of Simone (O’Grady). Production for the pilot began in December 2015. The series was picked up, with a 12-episode order, on April 27, 2016. On October 9, 2017, FOX ordered an additional five episodes for the second season, bringing the season total to 18 episodes. On September 11, 2018, it was announced that Terrence J and Lyndie Greenwood are set to recur in season 3.

Filming

On May 4, 2016, it was announced that Charles Murray would serve as showrunner during its first season. On September 13, 2016, it was announced that Charles Pratt Jr. would replace Murray as the series' showrunner, following his decision to depart the series, due to creative differences.

Following the conclusion of the show's first season, Pratt stepped down as showrunner and was subsequently replaced by Karin Gist.

Cancellation and possible revival

After the series was canceled by Fox in May 2019, fans began a #SAVESTAR campaign on social media platforms. Multiple petitions were created on websites such as change.org to save the show from cancellation, and these petitions have collectively gained over 100,000 signatures. On May 29, show creator Lee Daniels made an Instagram post saying "Fighting guys! Will know this week... or top of next!" The Hollywood Reporter reported that cable networks BET and OWN were possible contenders for picking up the show. However, on May 31, Daniels made another Instagram post stating that despite his efforts, he was not able to find another home for the show.

In July 2019, Lee Daniels posted on his Instagram account that Star will receive a proper finale through a two-hour movie event.

In February 2024, Lee Daniels responded to a lengthy viral social media post by Zoie Fenty, known popularly as @iamzoie, who expressed strong interests in the shows return due to the season finale being cut short without a resolve [quoting: "I NEED STAR BACK BECAUSE BAYYYYYY THE WAY I WAS INVESTED[.]” ]. Many other commenters expressed the same over the years and made many post about the untimely cancellation. Lee stated on his post: "Love you for this. It is being written. I appreciate everybody's love! It's just taken me FOREVER cause I have other projects…It's crazy, I had NO IDEA when I created this show the response would be like this. #grateful." Also in an Instagram post made by Daniels himself in March 2024 while explaining about the challenges of completing his upcoming 2024 supernatural horror film The Deliverance, he hinted once again at STAR potential return stating "...and then I gotta worry about STAR, I gotta put a writer's room together so I could keep y'all off my ass about STAR...it's crazy."

At the end of July 2024, during an Instagram live discussion with Sasha Alexander on her video log "#convosandcoffee" while promoting the film The Deliverance, he provided an update to STAR as many viewers flooded the comment section about the series, interrupting the interview. He expressed that he was amazed at the enormous response from people who stopped him at grocery stores who at times were verbally angry with him asking why was STAR cancelled. He acknowledged that is wasn't his doing to get the series axed, it was FOX studios as he had more plans for the series to grow mentioning "Just as I was getting into my mojo and groove, it gets cancelled". While he also felt, that he had thought EMPIRE was a 'big hit ticket' that seemed to be more popular, but didn't realize how STAR resonated with many viewers. Lee assured that it is still in the works as he has a writer working on it as of the present moment of the Instagram live. He stated it may come in the form as a pilot or one episode television movie, unless picked up by a network. He lastly confirmed "It is coming..so please relax!"

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a rating of 35%, with an average rating of 4.19 out of 10 based on 37 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite Queen Latifah's strong performance, the cast, and the songs, Lee Daniels' Star is weighed down by sloppy melodrama and overly cartoonish stereotypes".

On Metacritic, the series has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".