Powerbook II:Ghost’s Shane Johnson has played the Cooper Saxe character since the original Power series. Once made it his mission to take down the St. Patrick family, is now currently defending them. Saxe paired up with Davis MacLean (Method Man) in order to do so while also continuing his career. In this exclusive interview, I speak with Shane Johnson about the current storylines on the second season of Powerbook II: Ghost while he also gives his thoughts about the show being picked up for a third season.
The Knockturnal: You worked with Michael Rainey Jr. from when he was younger to his current age.
SJ: “it’s been really cool working with Michael because i’ve gotten to see him since he was twelve when he started on the original show. He’s really grown into a fine actor. and a great dude. We have a lot of fun. We’re friends. I could be his dad age wise. It’s been really cool to see him develop to the point where he’s carrying a show now. I think he’s a pretty formidable force on screen.”
The Knockturnal: It was announced earlier this week that Powerbook II: Ghost got renewed for a third seasion. How excited were you once you got the news?
SJ: “It’s been such an incredible ride being on this show. This will be nine years playing the same character for me. So it’s been such a blessing and I’m so thankful to the Power Universe gods that are really Courtney A. Kemp and 50 Cent. The other thing that’s kind of cool is that every year, it’s not the same. Every year layers are added and the characters get more complex. You’ve watched the show from the beginning, you know the Cooper Saxe has gone from more of a two dimensional sort of character that was really designed to be a thorn in Angela’s side to now all these years later, a guy that’s really complex that kind of waffles on both sides of the law. And it’s gotten himself a little bit into the dark side now with Davis MacClean (Method Man). He’s got a love interest and his family that pulls him in different directions. You know, he’s got a lot of complexity now. And every year there’s another layer added and it gets more and more rewarding to play and to explore.”
The Knockturnal: Now I want to bring up Saxe’s love interest because Saxe is the one defending the St. Patrick family now and the love interest is the one with the other team that’s trying to figure out the murder case. What we see these two characters clash over this soon?
SJ: “Well, it certainly seems like already they are hiding things from each other. In the scene that took place this week, you know, the sort of bedroom scene you see Cooper get some information from her and it immediately put it to use, you know? So I can’t imagine that friction and that sort of playing both sides of this by being involved with her doesn’t complicate issues, you know? I think the real challenge is going to be if that piece of information does blow up in their face, it’s going to call into question their ethics and what kind of people they really are. How they respond to this situation, I think will say a lot about their characters.”
The Knockturnal: We also saw Zeke being interviewed live on TV. When these interviews happen, it is Live TV meaning that there is no double takes or stopping. Zeke tried his best to not give off the impression that he knew about the murder case but it felt flat and the public eye will think otherwise about this athlete. What was your reaction to seeing this scene?
SJ: “I think that situation with him is really getting in deep. And he’s being questioned by the detective who I think does a fantastic job. Jeff Hephner is just a fantastic actor. You can see that he’s getting to Zeke and starting to like play inside of Zeke’s head. Zeke is starting to realize what his family is and he’s in a dangerous spot. that is a very interesting comment too on where we are at right now in our culture where everything is so immediate and everything is so recorded like I’m reminded of a scene a couple of episodes ago where there’s that character that comes up to Mecca’s loft and he’s filming and he’s like ‘Oh yeah, look at his oh, snap, look where I’m at right now’ while he’s doing Instagram Live. And Mecca shuts it down and breaks his hand in half. It just shows you the mentality of the different generations too. That’s one of the cool things about our show as well as you have. Different generations kind of with different mentalities and expectations playing against each other. You know, you got the college age group and then you’ve got these adults who have lived through a couple of generations now and are looking at these kids going, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m 45. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to do Instagram and I get lost half the time and i am like ‘ Wait, what is this?’ I spend most of my time looking at like cute puppy videos or something. I’m like ‘What am I doing? I got stuff to do and why am I watching puppies run into walls and stuff.'”
