With the show's premiere, Amiyah Scott became the third openly transgender person to play a major transgender character in an American scripted television drama, following Laverne Cox in Orange Is the New Black and Jamie Clayton in Sense8.

Star was created by Empire creator Lee Daniels and Tom Donaghy, and Fox ordered a pilot in August 2015 about three girls forming a girl group.

Casting began in October 2015, with reports confirming a transgender character would be featured; Queen Latifah, Jude Demorest, Brittany O'Grady, Ryan Destiny and Amiyah Scott were announced in December 2015, followed shortly by Benjamin Bratt and Darius McCrary.

Production on the pilot began in December 2015, and the series was formally picked up for a 12-episode first season in April 2016.

The show went through several showrunner changes: Charles Murray ran the first season before being replaced by Charles Pratt Jr. due to creative differences, and after season one Pratt was succeeded by Karin Gist.

Season 2 featured a crossover with fellow Fox series Empire, also created by Lee Daniels, with Empire actors Jussie Smollett and Tasha Smith guest starring as Jamal Lyon and Carol Holloway.

After Fox cancelled the series in May 2019, fans launched a #SAVESTAR campaign, with change.org petitions collecting over 100,000 signatures in an effort to save the show.

Lee Daniels announced in July 2019 that Star would get a proper finale via a two-hour TV movie, and as of 2024 he continued to confirm on social media that a continuation was still being written, describing efforts to assemble a writers' room for a potential pilot or TV movie.