That's some kind of gut, because she was dead right.
Ghost premiered last September, just months after the
Power series finale ended with Tariq revealed as the person who killed his father, Ghost (Omari Hardwick). Despite the hate towards Tariq and the death threats sent on social media to Rainey, the spin-off became the highest-rated new series in Starz history.
With the premiere of the latest
Power series,
Power Book III: Raising Kanan, EW did a deep dive on the powerful force that is
the Power Universe. As part of that, we chatted with Rainey about his eventful
Power journey, the
killer Ghost season 1 finale, and what's to come later this year with season 2, which EW has your first look at.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How's filming been going so far on season 2?
MICHAEL RAINEY JR.: Today was the first day of episode 6, so we're a little bit past the halfway mark. But filming's been great, we're having a lot of fun. The story's just developing and developing, getting deeper and deeper.
What's it been like seeing the overwhelming response to Ghost? It seemed like the buzz just kept getting bigger and bigger throughout season 1. After all the crap and negativity that you dealt with going back to Power, did it feel a bit vindicating?
Hell yeah, definitely vindicating. Because going into the show, before we even started, I was nervous, like, "Damn, how are we about to pull this off? Everyone really hates me, and we're about to make a show about my character?!" But shoutout to Courtney, shoutout to the writers, they made it possible. They gave me perfect material to work with, so from there, it's like, "Great writing, great story, just got to take advantage and fully embrace this role and do what I got to do." So it's definitely vindicating, seeing how everyone has had a change of heart towards Tariq as a character and they understand where his actions are coming from.
We've talked previously about the ridiculous fact that you were getting hundreds of death threats on social media during the last few seasons on Power. Is it wild to now see how people have gone from that to full-on rooting for Tariq?
Man, a freaking insane experience. Because, like I said, I was super nervous coming into the first week. So that outcome I really wasn't expecting. Obviously I was expecting good news, but I just wasn't expecting it this much.
No fan base is more passionate than the Power audience, so what do you think it is about this world that Courtney and company have created that connects so strongly with people?
It's the realness for me. Even though it's very crazy and insane and outlandish, a lot of this stuff that's happening on the show happens in real life. Someone can relate to at least one thing each of these characters are going through. Especially now, with the characters being in school now, they get to relate to what these kids are experiencing. When you can relate and you to get connected, it's easy for you to fall into the trap of the show.
When did you realize that Power had become a big deal? I'm sure you were sheltered a bit from it early on, being so young and not as involved onscreen in the earlier seasons.
Season 4 really is when I came to the realization, like, "Yo, this show is a hit. We are the culture, basically." Especially once my character started getting a little more involved, and everyone started reacting so much to what Tariq did. It was definitely surprising to me to see how popping the show became. I knew it would be something, but it kind of just caught me off guard how fast and how crazy things got.
Now eight seasons and two shows into playing Tariq, what keeps you so excited and invested in the role?
Obviously I don't relate too much to Tariq, but there's some things that resonate, just as far as him growing up and finally learning how to really become a young man. He's really tweaking himself. And I feel some of those things that he's going through, just trying to figure things out on his own. He has to really think for himself. Not even just for himself; he has to think for his family, because he has to help his little sister and his grandmother. I'm also becoming a young man. I'm about to be 21 this year, so I feel like I have a lot more responsibilities, and I just really think a bit different than how I used to think, even one or two years ago.