Power’s Cast and EP Talk Season 2 [+ “Consequences” Preview] 

Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead

Earlier this year Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Omari Hardwick, Joseph Sikora and Creator/EP Courtney Kemp Agboh discussed what we can expect this season on Power.

As season 2 premieres, all the characters are in transition or some sort of turmoil. Jackson tells us Kanan “is back out in the city trying to reestablish what he had before he left. It’s exciting.”

Tommy thinks his partner — his brother — may have betrayed him. Sikora says, “People are wondering who to trust and what [to] do. For the first time ever in Tommy’s life,” he wonders if Ghost is out to get him. Sikora adds, “For the first time ever, [Tommy] thinks he might have gotten duped and dunked. He’s heartbroken.”

How will Jamie feel when he learns the truth about Angela? “Obviously torn,” Hardwick states. He goes on to add, “He’s still in love and still wants to forge ahead with this person who can bring his entire power ‑‑ pun intended ‑‑ down to a miniscule size.”

Tasha knows Ghost has checked out of their relationship, but she’d been trying to get out too.

Agboh: “What it is when you make a man your job? In other words, how you support yourself is literally your relationship. If your relationship falls apart, then you have other considerations, which are ‘How do I support my kids, how do I support myself?’

I’m sure any of you who have watched the show know that Tasha has a high overhead. She can’t just find anybody to support her and she is a brain. That’s the thing. She has a strategic mind and she’s great at math. She brings all these things to the table. So one of the things that the night club does for her as a character is it allows her to have new worth to Ghost.

When we come to her in the beginning of this season, we find that he actually needs a helpmate again. He needs a partner again. Uh oh. So what does that look like? Where does her power come from? The show always thinks about power dynamics between people. [Tasha] was at the lowest point of her power when we left her at the end of season 1. That shifts in season 2.”

Ghost’s mantra this year is “by any means necessary.” So now that Tasha’s going to be important — at least for his business — again, how is he going to juggle these two relationships?

Hardwick: “As arrogant, as narcissistic as you found Ghost to be at times last year, I think that’s catapulted even to a higher level. It’s impossible for it not to remain there if he’s trying to lie to two women ‑‑ one obviously being the mother of his three kids, the other being someone who’s known him at a very early age when there is this pubescent purity of sorts, that he believes could be the thing that gets him to a cleaner life and convinces Tommy to come to a cleaner life.

It’s a really hard thing to be juggling, obviously, two women that you love differently, but you love them both, at the end of the day. Then that focus has to be that he loves himself first and foremost. That’s the positive of James “Ghost” St. Patrick, but it’s also obviously the negative of him. And these two women, I think you’ll see, that they are pushed to the wayside as well.”

Agboh also talks about how this will be “the season of Kanan. We’re going to disrupt this relationship and put a third party in there and see what happens.”

Ghost and Tommy are going to use whoever they need to in order to survive, but they’ve never turned on each other before. Kanan definitely stirs that pot and this season Hardwick tells us “I start using his insecurity, then he starts using Ghost’s insecurities and that’s a problem. That’s not what we signed up for. It’s a breach of contract.”

There’s great conflict for the guys, but in the background is there a set up for a real power shift for the women to step up? Are the women really pulling the strings?

Agboh: “The show is titled Power because it’s about these power dynamics. It’s about these power dynamics. Men often think sometimes that they are in control of women, and women use other strategies to be in control of men. But it’s always about the shifting dynamics with both genders.

When we met Tommy, he was capable of incredible brutality and we saw him as being really psycho-pathological and capable of great rage. When we introduced the Holly character last year, we saw something else, which is that he actually got confused and started to behave differently because of a woman.

So I think there’s always power on both sides of that dynamic. These women, Holly, Tasha and Angela, were all formidable in their own way. That’s very important. We saw Angela with Nomar. She pulled a gun on him. These are not wallflowers. They’re not just chicks. They’re grown‑ass women.”

How will Tommy react when he finds out Holly’s been shot?

Sikora: “Somebody’s going to be in trouble. That’s where we leave the end of season 1. There’s a huge amount of violence that’s happening. Nomar’s been stabbed. Holly’s been shot. What happened to both of them? Those questions will be answered, a lot of loose ends that are going to be getting tied up. 

Season 2 happens right on the heels of season 1. So all of that energy, that huge breath that you’ve just taken in, you’re going to have to hold your breath for another ten episodes before you get to exhale.”

It great to see complicated, conflicted character of all races and audiences seem to be embracing the antihero more and more.

Jackson: “You find yourself watching the program and you enjoy the villain. We all have the streak of a rebel within our characters and at points people push those boundaries and they do things against the rules just in general and to break the law. The more that they do it, the wider their streak becomes until they feel like what they say goes and that’s the end of it.

The reason why we’re watching and we identify with it is because we do have those capabilities, we do feel those feelings before they go break the law. It’s just people know the difference and can control themselves based on the repercussions. We’re not that different. We’re people.”

Agboh: “Now we get to have a breadth of different kinds of characters. Ghost is definitely an antihero. He’s written that way. He’s a guy who does a lot of bad things, but hopefully, what people identify with and love about Ghost is that he’s trying to be a better man. He really is trying to go from bad to good. I think that all of us have that. All of us have, ‘Can I change myself Can I be different? Can I be better?'”

Edited for space and content.

Season 2 synopsis, from Starz

The new episodes pick up at the conclusion of last season: James “Ghost” St. Patrick is doubling down on his drug business to save his nightclub and his dream of a legitimate future. But Ghost’s work troubles pale in comparison to the complexity of juggling his relationship with his wife, Tasha, and first love, Angela, who is also an Assistant United States Attorney investigating his drug organization. Ghost’s plans are further set back by his business partner and best friend Tommy, who loves the drug game, and his former mentor, Kanan, who is fresh out of jail and looking for revenge.

Ghost is in a race against himself: Can he get out of the drug game alive before Angela discovers who he is?

Season 2 Preview:

Clip 1:

Season 2 of Power premieres Saturday, June 6th at 9/8c on Starz.