Four more cast members have been named to join the third season of "Empire" and they are actress Ajiona Alexus and actors Jeremy Carver, Ezri Walker, and Kid Cudi.

The upcoming season will feature a lot of Cookie's (Taraji Henson) and Lucious' (Terrence Howard) past, and as their younger years are explored, the characters will be played by Alexus and Carver, respectively.

As the young Cookie, Alexus will play an innocent Catholic school student with an evident "Cookie spark." Carver as the young Lucious will be shown already possessing an incredible voice whose bad boy vibes easily attract the young Cookie.

Walker will appear in the present timeline as a nerdy 16-year-old talented rapper. His intellect and love for music will leave him torn between pursuing a degree in an elite university and a promising career at Empire with Lucious.

Recording artist and actor Kid Cudi will enter the scene as Hakeem Lyon's (Bryshere Gray) tough competition. Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, will play the role of independent musician Gram who will be pitted against Hakeem in their profession as well as in their personal lives. He will be dating Tiana (Serayah McNeill), who is Hakeem's former girlfriend.

The four will join actor Taye Diggs as some of the newest faces in the series. Diggs will play a character named Angelo Dubois, coming from an affluent family in New York. As a Harvard law graduate, he gave up a promising practice to devote his time on community service and politics. His character will be compared to that of President Barack Obama.

Rapper Xzibit guested in the last episode of season 2 and he will be part of the regular cast in season 3. His character is teased to not necessarily be an adversary but a potential threat to the Lyon family.

"Empire" season 3 will premiere on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. on FOX.