You’ve got to love when the Power worlds collide.
Tommy Egan left Chi-Town to exact some revenge on Power Book: II Ghost Season 3 Episode 9, but it’s up in the air if he succeeded.
As we get ready for the much-anticipated Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Episode 10, TV Fanatic chatted with the always wonderful Joseph Sikora, who talked about his foray back into Power Ghost land, and whether or not he thinks Tommy could repair those relationships with the remaining St. Patrick’s.
You are back in the Power Ghost world. How were you feeling when you found out that you were going to get to come back and play a little bit in this world?
Well, I was especially happy that, of course, it involved Naturi Naughton and Michael Rainey Jr., who I’ve known now for ten years and have been working with for an equal amount of time. And it’s just been great to see Michael’s journey and him grow as an actor. And I’ve been really enjoying Ghost.
I think Brett Mahoney has stretched it and pushed it in different directions that I didn’t see coming. I was just previously saying, who thought you were going to see Cane Tejada in a suit? Which I think was a really fun turn. What we all do for love.
So I was really excited, and I had a great time playing with Naturi and Michael.
One of the coolest things about the Power universe is that it’s been, what? I think Power premiered like nine years ago almost. And there are all these characters and storylines throughout the years, and everything still connects. You’re able to think back to these old characters and these old things that happened.
And everything still connects seamlessly, which is really hard, I think, to keep that kind of continuity over such a long period of time. And across different universes, too, now, with Force and Ghost and everything.
Yeah, I like that aspect as well. And also just figuring out the time when Tommy would have gone from the end of season one, that small interim between the end of season one, into season two.
Tommy would’ve taken a couple, two, three days, boom, popped in, tried to take care of some business, and came right back and got back to the streets.
Which goes into my next question. We didn’t see how Tommy got the information or anything like that, but do you think there was any hesitancy on his part?
Like, the Tasha thing is in the past, “I’ve got this new thing going on,” or do you think it’s just so ingrained in him that kind of betrayal and pain and everything that went along with that relationship with Tasha that he’s like, “I got to do this”?
I think that you hit it right on the nose that Tommy was just like, “No, no, no, I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I got to do it.” It’s kind of that part of his DNA. The St. Patrick’s are part of his DNA. They’re truly his blood. Tommy and Ghost, that was his other half.
I mean, one of my favorite lines was Omari Hardwick’s line, brilliantly delivered by Omari, like so many of them were, was, “Two men, one voice.” And we are seeing a… I think duplicity is the wrong word, but we’re seeing another side of Tommy emerge now that he’s on his own. But I think that he always carries Ghost with him.
That people say, and people want Ghost to come back and somebody to have a vision of Ghost. And I’m all for that.
I think that’d be a great idea, but I think what audience members sometimes forget is that Ghost was a martyr. He didn’t just die. He had to die for the show to live. So I think that Omari gets mentioned in every show multiple, many, many, many times, so that he still is the lifeblood, as are the St. Patrick’s part of the lifeblood of Tommy.
And you just touched on it, too, that family aspect. The St. Patricks, for so long, were Tommy’s family. But now, in Power Book IV: Force Season 1, he’s met JP, he’s met Darnell, and he’s got this other family. Do you think that finding this new family has changed Tommy in the way he approaches life?
I think so. Some of my favorite moments, and often what the audience tells me some of their favorite Tommy moments, are not really lines necessarily. It’s just when the camera is on up here, and you’re just watching him think, whether it’s good or bad or what the heck is he thinking? There’s a lot. I mean, he’s a thinking guy.
He’s almost on the spectrum, is how I’ve always played Tommy. He gets kind of obsessed, in a way. There’s less of a filter on Tommy than I think a lot of people, and things just come out, and his behavior reflects that.
So Tommy’s always calculating what this means to him, having this relationship with JP and D-Mac especially. And he does carry that. And it is really important to him. Because as we saw from Tommy from the beginning, from the first season of the Power show, Tommy’s always been trying to find his family.
And if he has, how does that really affect him?
Yeah, for sure. And for the longest time, Tariq was a nephew to him and everything like that. And I know that Tommy’s not there now to see everything that Tariq is doing, but so many different times, Tariq says, “I’m not my father, I’m not my father.”
How do you think Tommy views Tariq?
I think that some of the reasons that Tommy had to be so hard on Tariq when he said, “If you’re not pushing, you’re falling,” or holding him off the roof, I really tried to play that like I was thinking, “Should I drop this guy? Would this help him? Or are these streets going to kill him? Is it going to be torturous?”
And I think that that’s always Tommy’s intention is that it’s really hard and lonely, and the chance of living is so small, and the chance of being happy is even smaller. And that I think that Tommy can’t help but look out for Tariq in a familial way.
We don’t know where things will go in the finale. All we know now is that Tasha’s missing, and Tariq’s in the hospital. But do you think there’s any way that Tommy could reconcile with them or repair any of that fracture? Or do you think that ship has totally sailed?
Well, there is the old cliche, and I guess it’s more of an adage than a cliche, and that is that time heals all wounds. I think that if everybody can stay alive long enough, which of course, there’s no guarantee on, I think that there is a balm in time, B-A-L-M, and I think that there is healing power.
In fact, in Canada, if you committed a felony in the United States and in 10 years time if you weren’t convicted of that crime, you can go into Canada because you are considered not healed, but it’s healed by the virtue of time. When I heard that, I was like, “Oh, I like that.”
So time is an important factor in the show, and there is room for Tommy, Tasha, and Tariq to all be there. And probably with Tariq possibly leading the way, possibly saving Tommy.
That would be a nice interesting twist.
Would you ever like to see Tariq and Tasha in Chicago?
Yeah, I think that would be fun. I’d like to see Ghost in Chicago in some capacity. I think Tariq would be fun. I always thought Saxe would be great as a crossover and just living in this world. Time-wise, I don’t know how that would work.
But we have the best showrunner on the planet, Gary Lennon, running the show now, who, of course, is the co-executive producer and a co-showrunner of the Power show. So I got to tell you that anything can happen.
Gary is brilliant and really gritty. I mean, he’s such a New Yorker to the bone. He’s a Westie, and he’s just a tough guy, and I love it. He really brings back the kind of Tommy that we all know and love, and we’re getting back down to business in season two. I cannot wait for people to see it.
Yeah, I can’t wait for that too. I’m really excited about that. When it dropped yesterday, the news was coming out, and I was like, “Ah, we have to wait.” But I know it’s going to be worth the wait.
It really is going to be great. I stand so behind it. I’m not just saying any of that. I’m so excited about it.
Yeah, me too. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to talk to you about that one too.
Yeah, we got to come back.
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***
You can watch Power Book II: Ghost Fridays at 8/9c on Starz and follow our weekly reviews here at TV Fanatic.
And Power Book IV: Force returns on September 1, 2023.
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
