Star Joseph Sikora & Showrunner Gary Lennon on Tommy Egan, and the Love at the Heart of Power Force

It’s the end of an era.

The Power Book IV: Force era, to be exact.

With the ending of the Tommy Egan-centered Power spinoff, which saw the longtime New York drug dealer relocate to Chicago and look to conquer a new city, it could also be the beginning of something new.

The final hour of the series featured gunfights, heartfelt conversations, and one huge surprise: Tariq St. Patrick arriving in Chicago to help Tommy when he needed him most.

While many storylines were wrapped up, some lingered, culminating in a final scene in which Tariq and Tommy discussed the merits of working together back in New York and ushered in a potential new chapter of the Power Universe.

Power never dies, after all.

After a satisfying conclusion to the series, we caught up with Tommy Egan himself, Joseph Sikora, and showrunner Gary Lennon to discuss the final season and the beauty of the world they created.

Joseph, you’ve been playing Tommy for a long time now.

Joseph: That’s true.

But this season was probably the most confident and in-control Tommy we’ve seen. What do you think clicked for him this season?

Joseph: Gary Lennon, and that’s just the truth. Getting Gary back, acting without Gary at the helm, is difficult for a multiplicity of reasons.

Now, granted, Gary came in the second season of the original Power. He’s a storytelling master, but he paid so much attention and really rounded out the character of Tommy, and we found out that we are incredible collaborators.

So again, to have him in season two of Power Force, it was great to get the voice, the heart, and the soul back of Tommy. I also produced the second season; I was a producer on the second and third seasons, which allowed me to be a true collaborator with Gary. It’s a difficult map to navigate sometimes.

And then by season three, we were so in sync, so steady, so riffing of the story, so on point with each other creatively that it was just like taking a breath. And when it’s that much fun, and it’s that easy, it’s palpable on the screen to the audience. It’s just obvious and real, and you felt it too, so that’s great.

Gary, talk to me a little bit about this final hour. What were some of the essential emotional and story beats that you wanted to make sure you hit when you realized that this was going to be the last episode of the series?

Gary: In the writer’s room, we basically built it until the finale of being that Tommy’s back is really truly against the wall, right? And so that motivates the phone call and reveals that it’s Tariq. He wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t pushed to that moment.

We wanted to solidify the relationship between him and Mireya. And we wanted to give Mireya agency so that when she made that decision and took herself off the board, our audience would fall in love with her because she was willing to do that, so her man could be in the fight.

We wanted to end a number of storylines and, in our ending, also tease the audience about what might be in store for the next chapter of the Power Universe.

And so that was really an architectural kind of job because we needed to stack it up, but then we needed to make sure the things we were stacking were emotionally motivated and emotionally loaded, so the audience would be on our side.

Joseph, speaking of that ending for you, Tommy and Tariq obviously have this highly complex history.

How important do you think it was for them to squash the beef and move into a new phase of their relationship? And what would a potential partnership between them look like?

Joseph: Oh, I think it would be wonderfully complicated.

I think just because of the history between Tariq and Tommy, I feel like it could be encapsulated in that look in the OG Power during the back five, where you saw Tommy actually seeing Tariq after he killed Ghost, and where Tommy could have had that shot on him.

It’s just so charged. The conflict is so innate there, but also the love.

Omari and I used to always say, when we were doing scenes, because they were always pulling the Ghost and Tommy characters, making them at odds, because that’s good television. But Omari and I would always say, “But it’s about the love. It’s about the love.” And we would always play that it was about the love.

And I think that that’s the same kind of take that I’ve always done with Tariq. No matter how much, how angry I am, there’s an underlying love there, and that makes things, again, wonderfully complicated.

So it’d be great to do all these adventures. Michael’s a tremendous actor. I love working with him. And the genius scribe that Gary Lennon is, I can’t wait to see what situations might come through with that, but I know it’d be a whole lot of fun.

Gary: Yeah, I’d love to add to that. On the roof at the end, I mean, what Joe said, though, I love so much that both of these characters come with so much history. There’s not much exposition needed because the audience has watched their history unfold.

And underneath that, the one thing you can’t forget is that Tariq killed Ghost, who happened to be Tommy Egan’s best friend. So that’s an emotional charge. But what Joseph just said is that they have their own history and their own love.

I remember being on set in New York with Omari and doing a scene with Tariq. I said to him, because Denzel Washington was apparently directing Viola Davis in a scene where she was being rageful, and Denzel whispered into her ear, “Don’t forget the love.”

And that really goes for Tommy Egan and Tariq St. Patrick, and I love what Joe said, that there’s so much to investigate between these two because their relationship is so emotionally charged because of the events that happened.

Joseph: And then also to really piggyback, and I’ll make this quick, look how awesome it was that Gary structured that ending on the roof, because remember the last time that Tommy and Tariq were on the roof, that was the, “If you ain’t pushing, you falling.”

And to me, Tariq saying to Uncle Tommy, “What do you think about coming back to New York?”

It’s saying, “Hey, you kind of did your thing here. It’s going to be what it’s going to be, but the great unknown is coming back home. Are you up for that? Are you pushing or are you falling?” So as much as it was an invitation, it was a challenge.

Gary: Absolutely.

Just one last thing, as you can see, we love this stuff.

But in that scene on the roof, Robert Townsend said to Tariq, because as they were finding the blocking, it was revealed that Michael, Tariq was circling Joseph, and it was like he was surveying the prey, “How can I play this? Should I lean into the emotional aspect of our relationship? Is it a business thing? Am I playing him a little?”

And Joseph is playing it like, “Oh, I see all sides of you.” You know what I mean? It was a very fun scene to see fully realized, and I believe it was.

I felt very full circle, too, and I loved it when the music hit. It was the perfect ending to the show. So kudos for that.

Joseph: That was Gary’s decision, by the way.

Gary: Yeah, we were in the editing room, and I was like, “Oh, can we bring that in?” And then bam. And when we saw it, we were like, “Yeah, that’s it.”

Yes, it works. It hits every emotion at the end, so very well done there.

Last thing for me for both of you guys, now that Force is complete, it’s going to live on within the Power Universe alongside the other shows.

When you look back on Power Force, what do you hope the fans can take away from Tommy’s journey, specifically in Chicago?

Joseph: That Power made it out of New York City and may make it back again, but it was a big risk to take Tommy out of his hometown.

If you remember in the original Power show, especially when he went to go visit the Serbians, Jason Micic, played by Mike Dopud, is having a meeting with him in downtown Chicago, and Tommy’s like, “Is that it? Because I’d like to go home now.” He’s like, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. California.”

And Tommy’s like, “Yeah, I don’t like that dry heat.” You know what I mean? Tommy’s just a New Yorker. He just never wanted to leave home. So, as much as he was getting comfortable in season two, I was really happy that Gary also reinstated Tommy’s discomfort in Chicago.

I think that what we ended up doing in season three is showing like, yeah, maybe this New Yorker needs to go home.

Gary: I agree with what Joseph said. Well said. Tommy Egan is a New Yorker. It was interesting to explore his journey in Chicago. We asked the question, “Will Tommy Egan become the biggest, baddest drug dealer in Chicago?” And I think we answered it in our finale.

Now, in the end, with him looking over, I mean, that was a beautiful visual to look over the city of Chicago. He’s on the roof. It was Caesar conquering Rome, right? And maybe it’s time to go home.

I like the idea that Tommy finally gets the power everybody’s searching for, but maybe it’s still not enough. Maybe there’s still more out there that he needs to do, which is very fitting for this universe.

Gary: Yes.

You can watch Power Book IV: Force on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms.

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