Andre Martin Lyon is a fictional character from the American musical drama Empire, on Fox. Portrayed by Trai Byers, Andre is the oldest son of hip-hop mogul Lucious (Terrence Howard) and his wife Cookie (Taraji P. Henson). Storylines Andre, the college-educated executive in the company, is pitted against his two younger brothers, Hakeem Lyon (Bryshere Y. Gray) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett), for control of the family business after their father's developing illness. He is portrayed as the son with the most business acumen and unlike his younger siblings does not want to follow in the Lyon family's musical footsteps. This creates tensions with Lucious, who likes to push him aside. He is afflicted with bipolar disorder, and is on a spiritual journey to find his identity. He is the one Lyon "son" who chooses business over singing. He was in an interracial relationship, married to scheming character Rhonda (played by Kaitlin Doubleday). This created further troubles with his father Lucious who disapproves of the relationship. Rhonda, who is pregnant, is pushed down the stairs by a mystery character in the mid-season finale of season 2, causing her to lose her unborn child. She is later killed in the season finale by Andre's stepmother Anika (Grace Byers), who pushes her from a 30-floor building. Andre avenges his wife's and unborn child's deaths in the season 4 finale when he spikes Anika's champagne. She hallucinates, seeing Rhonda's ghost, panics, and plunges through a glass ceiling to her death. Creation and development Casting On March 10, 2014, it was announced that Trai Byers known for his recurring roles on All My Children and 90210 had been cast in the role of Andre Lyon, the oldest son of Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) described as a "brilliant and compelling guy with a dark side." Byers had several auditions before he booked the role of Andre. When Lee Daniels and Danny Strong created the character of Andre, they agreed that he would have some sort of depression. Co-creator Danny Strong said Byers booked the role "partially by walking in and identifying Andre as Iago." Daniels likened Byers to Denzel Washington. "Pure genius" he said of the actor. "He's kind of legitimized [his family]" Byers said of his character Andre. It was his efforts that raised the company to the Fortune 500 level. Not only does he feel he is the brains