Who is going to play Ghost? Looking right at 50 Cent, this was one of the first questions Starz asked when Courtney Kemp and Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson pitched Power, the producing duo told a rowdy crowd of fans in New York City’s Upper East Side Monday. The leading role in a series was too much of a time commitment for a busy man like 50 Cent, so Kemp took matters into her own hands.
“We created someone who was the biggest, the baddest,” Kemp said with a grin. “We created Kanan after the fact,” she explained. “I knew I wanted 50 to be in it.”
Kanan didn’t get too much screen time until he was released from jail early in Season 2, but he’s always been at the core of the show’s complex storyline. It wasn’t until Kanan murders his own son in cold blood that we really see his true colors.
“The scene with me and Shawn -- I was waiting to do that part. I was like woah this is going to be crazy because we all know someone who would rather fight someone they love than their enemies,” 50 Cent said of the brutal scene where Kanan tells Shawn that he’s not worthy of being his son and promptly sends a bullet through his skull with no hesitation.
This was the hardest scene to watch in the history of series, but both Kemp and 50 Cent both insist Kanan isn’t Power’s worst.
“People call me the bad guy. Ghost sent me to jail, but I never called the police on nobody,” 50 Cent said in defense of his character. That’s when Good Morning America ’s Mara Schiavocampo stepped in to take an audience vote to find out who is the badder villain, Ghost or Kanan? “Ghost killed like 11 people but go ahead,” 50 Cent quickly added in hopes of swaying the crowd, which overwhelmingly pegged Kanan as the baddest of the bad.
“Kanan is an antagonist, but he’s not a bad guy. The bad guy is always Ghost,” Kemp explains. “All the bad stuff that happened in the show is all related to Ghost’s actions. When Kanan is coming after him in Season 1, that's because of what he did to Kanan. Every negative action on the show you can trace to Ghost’s own actions.”
However, when you take the ‘Ghost’ out of James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick, that’s where things get tricky. “Ghost is also a hero. He’s also the good guy because he's trying to be James St. Patrick. He’s trying to get out. So the two of them are having a fight in there for his soul,” Kemp voiced passionately before 50 Cent jumped on the train.
“But they [fans] forgive him because they see themselves in some of his actions. We all put our are best foot forward when we first meet someone and Ghost is able to do that so many ways, but they don't forgive Kanan because you only see him one way.” 50 Cent continues, “Kanan is just seen trying to take what he feels is his back.”
It’s revealed early on that Tasha and Ghost are responsible for Kanan’s prison sentence, even though it was Kanan who mentored Ghost and Tommy their whole lives.
“For a lot of reasons I wouldn’t trust the motherfucker,” 50 Cent said, referring to Ghost. “Imagine you get back [from prison] and look at a high rise, a nightclub, and all that shit -- I’m tryna take all of it back.”
The Season 2 finale saw Ghost abandon Kanan to die in a basement fire. As it turns out, Kanan survived and from the teasers, it appears clear he’ll be out for revenge. However, 50 Cent had something surprising to say in response to what fans should expect of Kanan in Season 3. “He starts to become human. You see vulnerability,” 50 Cent said before he was interrupted by a piercing shout from the audience. “I'll believe it when I see it.”
Power returns to Starz July 17.
Who would you rather have as your friend, Kanan or Ghost? Let us know in the comments below!
