TV Goes Back To Work

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 10 p.m., ABC

Location: Los Angeles

No one looks forward to resuming those 4 a.m. wake-up calls on Mondays — least of all Karla Souza, who plays law student Laurel Castillo — but on the first day back, she finds it's always entertaining to see how her costars have changed their appearance. "New haircuts for everyone!" says Souza with a laugh. (There are new costumes to go along with those chic new 'dos, too.) "It's exciting to come back and see these people I call family." Souza, who was born in Mexico City, was particularly thrilled to meet Fernanda Coppel, one of the new writers who was hired to help showrunner Peter Nowalk with season 3's chills and thrills. "Knowing there's a Latina in there to help out with Laurel's background is so encouraging and helpful," says Souza. —Lynette Rice

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 10 p.m., ABC

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 10 p.m., ABC

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 10 p.m., ABC

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 10 p.m., ABC

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

After watching most of their costars (and one really sad mascot) get dispatched by the Red Devil killer (er, killers), the surviving cast members of Scream Queens are back for another season of bloody good fun in a whole new setting. Creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan ditched the college campus for a hospital, now run by the former dean of students Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis), with the Chanels (Emma Roberts, Abigail Breslin, Billie Lourd) and Zayday (Keke Palmer) all in her employ. "The whole dynamic has changed with the removal of the Kappa setting," says Curtis. "Chanel [Roberts] doesn't have her queen-bee stature."

During the first few weeks on set, Curtis makes everyone wear a name tag, but a lucky few also get nicknames—last year, the actress lovingly dubbed her younger costars "the hags." We have to ask: What's she calling the hot doctor newbies, played by John Stamos and Taylor Lautner? "Now that we have boys, I call them 'the hogs.'" —Tim Stack

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Art Streiber

Date: July 28, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Los Angeles

Photographs by: Chicago P.D. cast

Dates: July 21--26, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 10 p.m., NBC

Location: Chicago

The Chicago P.D. cast has faced scorching summers and dismal winters, but only a week into production on season 4, they're already struggling. "We've all been laughing that we've lost our sea legs a bit," Sophia Bush says. "Nobody is used to the hours after hiatus: 'What do you mean I can't sleep eight hours anymore?!'" While the new season picks up shortly after the fateful night when Voight (Jason Beghe) may have slaughtered the man who killed his son, behind-the-scenes antics are far less grim. Quantico star Li Jun Li has joined the cast as a new partner for Burgess (Marina Squerciati), reuniting with Bush, Jesse Lee Soffer, and Patrick John Flueger after they costarred in NBC's ill-fated 2013 Hatfields & McCoys pilot. "There was obviously some kind of magic on that show that didn't get picked up," Bush says. "And it's nice to have another woman around. She's a spitfire." —Natalie Abrams

Photographs by: Chicago P.D. cast

Dates: July 21--26, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 10 p.m., NBC

Location: Chicago

Photographs by: Empire cast

Dates: July 11--15, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Chicago

In just two seasons of Empire, fans have seen their fair share of scathing drama, blistering catfights, and spiteful one-liners. But among the actors returning for season 3, there's nothing but genuine camaraderie. "Everyone's so excited to be back," says Bryshere Y. Gray, who plays Hakeem, the youngest Lyon scion, who was disastrously left at the altar last season. Still, stepping back into character wasn't effortless after a four-month hiatus that Gray spent prepping for BET's miniseries about '80s R&B band New Edition. "I'm not going to lie, I had to binge-watch a little bit [of Empire] to get back into it," he says, laughing. "Then, seeing my castmates automatically brought me back." So, will the cast's off-camera affection manifest in an on-air Lyon-family lovefest? Teases Gray, "That would be way too easy." —Nina Terrero

Photographs by: Empire cast

Dates: July 11--15, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Chicago

Photographs by: Empire cast

Dates: July 11--15, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Chicago

Photographs by: Empire cast

Dates: July 11--15, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Chicago

Photographs by: Empire cast

Dates: July 11--15, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 21, 9 p.m., Fox

Location: Chicago

Photographs by: Mark Peterson

Date: July 11, 2016

Premieres: Oct. 2, 9 p.m., CBS

Location: New York City

Traipsing about in the power pumps Téa Leoni wears to play Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord is a whole lot easier knowing there's something comfortable to slip into once the cameras stop rolling. "Ah, my marshmallows!" she quips about her not-so-White-House-ready custom Jack Purcell platform mules. "When Converse stopped making them, I used eBay for the first time in my life and got the last four pairs I could find. Then costume designer Amy Roth had the brilliant idea to make them match the exact height of [Elizabeth's] heels-of-death," Leoni explains. "As soon as we leave the wide master shot and the camera can't see my feet, I'm in my marshmallows." She's even willing to share the wealth: "I'm gonna get Viola [Davis] a pair. Any gal tugging along a network show for 24 episodes should have them." —Lynette Rice

Photographs by: Mark Peterson

Date: July 11, 2016

Premieres: Oct. 2, 9 p.m., CBS

Location: New York City

Photographs by: Mark Peterson

Date: July 11, 2016

Premieres: Oct. 2, 9 p.m., CBS

Location: New York City

Photographs by: Chris McPherson

Date: July 12, 2016

Premieres: Sept. 22, 8 p.m., NBC

Location: Los Angeles

When Ben Feldman learned that heading back to the Superstore set would require all-day outdoor shoots during L.A.'s unbearable heat wave, he immediately made a trip to Whole Foods. "I bought all these iced coffees and weird little juices, anything I could prepare my body with," says Feldman. Despite his best efforts, both he and costar America Ferrera emerged worse for wear. "We're falling apart," he says, laughing about it a few days later. Still, shooting an episode that sees the Cloud 9 employees continue to strike against their big-box employer made for "one of the best weeks ever." Season 2 promises to continue the sitcom's comedic jabs at serious topics, with extra attention paid to politics in light of the upcoming presidential election. Says Feldman, "It all sort of naturally fits into a show that's the most Americana there is." —Nina Terrero