50 Cent and Michael Rainey Jr. shared their reactions after news came out that the Power spinoff, Power Book II: Ghost, is ending with season 4 this year.
While the New York rap legend seemed upbeat about the final season of one of his hugely successful shows, the protagonist, Michael Rainey Jr., who plays Tariq St. Patrick, isn’t so amused. Rainey Jr. says he learned about the show not renewing for a fifth season at the same time as everybody else when the news broke on Thursday (March 14).
“I found out the same time as everybody else,” he said while taking a break from working out in the gym to speak with fans on Instagram Live. “But don’t trip y’all, a lot of new sh*t coming out with me and Gianni (Paolo). A lot of new sh*t in motion man. This is not the only time that you going to see me and Gianni on the screen. We got our own stuff in the making you feel me.”
Rainey Jr. added a follow-up comment, writing, “Had a great run thank you @starz this just means new beginnings guys that’s all.”
On the other hand, the show’s producer, 50 Cent, reacted to the news by hyping up fans about the pending two-part final season. “Brace yourself for the final chapter. The two-part final season of #PowerGhost premieres June 7 on,” Fif wrote.
This marks the second time that fans of the franchise are losing Ghost, although in different ways. The original Power ended with the main protagonist, James “Ghost” St. Patrick, being killed by his son Tariq St. Patrick. 50 Cent and Starz then launched three spinoffs of the original show, one of which was titled Power Book II: Ghost, which saw the continuation of Tariq’s tumultuous life in college and drug operation.
According to Deadline, Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch says the decision to end the show after the upcoming season is part of a broader cost containment strategy at the network.
“You look at the [Power] map and say, ‘OK, if I take one of those characters out and spin one of those out, I can bring that on to replace the Power show at half the cost,'” the head of Starz said. “Now I’m putting a lot of money right to the bottom line. And I’m really not losing anything in terms of acquisition costs and subscriber viewership, because we know what those demos want. And we know how to line those up. And so that’s really the core of getting to that 20% [margin] — turning that slate over with fresh content to drive the business.”
Fans are now worried that another fan-favorite show, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, could be on the chopping block next. The news comes a day after Starz and 50 Cent announced another spinoff show, Power: Origins, which will be a prequel with a young Ghost and Tommy Egan. A release date has not yet been announced for the season premiere of that show, but fans can look for it in the summer of 2025 as a replacement for Ghost.
