It's Cookie vs. Lucious when "Empire" kicks off its second season on Wednesday night -- and yet again, brothers Jamal and Hakeem find themselves on opposite sides of the burgeoning family war.

In the season 1 finale, Lucious chose Jamal as the heir to Empire Entertainment, and when he got locked up for Uncle Bunky's murder, Jamal took over as acting CEO of the company, splitting the Lyon family in two. Cookie, Andre, Hakeem and Boo Boo Kitty teamed up against Lucious in the finale by planning a hostile takeover of Empire -- but will they be successful in their lofty endeavors? More importantly, what does this mean for Jamal and Hakeem?

According to Bryshere 'Yazz' Gray (Hakeem), there's not a lot of brotherly love going down in season 2.

"The brothers are now being pitted against each other for the empire, and it's sad because in the first season, you got to see how much they love each other," Gray told MTV News. "Now, with the music and the fame taking over their lives, it's going down."

It seems Jamal still hasn't set a release date for his baby bro's debut album, and that's a huge source of tension for the brothers. That, and the fact Hakeem is secretly working to dethrone their father, and thereby Jamal, at Empire.

"The season, Hakeem is doing his own thing," Gray said. "He's working with his mother because now that Jamal is in line for the company, he's taken over -- and he's in charge of the artists on the label, so if Hakeem wants to drop an album, and Jamal's not gonna let him, it's gonna get ugly."

Just how ugly are we talking about, here? Lucious-shooting-Bunky-point-blank ugly? Or Cookie-and-Boo-Boo-Kitty-catfight ugly? Perhaps he's referring to the obvious jealousy that keeps undercutting Jamal and Hakeem's brotherly bond. Whatever co-creator Lee Daniels cooks up, we know it's going to be absolutely insane in the best way possible.

"Lee Daniels has created these wonderful monsters," Gray added. "He's very passionate about his actors, and he brings the best out of us."