For the fifth season premiere of Starz hit series “Power,” the network went big hosting the event at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
Cast members Omari Hardwick, Lela Loren, Naturi Naughton, Joseph Sikora, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Executive Producer), Rotimi Akinosho, La La Anthony, Jerry Ferrara, Matthew Cedeño, Shane Johnson, Michael Rainey Jr., William Sadler, Brandon Victor Dixon, Larenz Tate, Richard Ryker, Mike Dopud, Franky G, Avry Mason, Joe Perroni, Bill Sage, Michael J. Ferguson, Ty Jones, Donshea Hopkins, J.R. Ramirez, Andrea-Rachel Parker, Adam LaVorgna, Shannon Thorton, Domenick Lombarozzi as well as Creator and Executive Producer Courtney A. Kemp, Executive Producers Mark Canton, Randall Emmett, and Gary Lennon, and Co-Executive Producers Bart Wenrich and Shana Stein were all in attendance. Additional special guests who attended included Kyle Anderson, Casanova, Dapper Dan, Jamila Davis, Nathaniel “Bamz” De la Rosa, Larry Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Gia Peppers, Sonny Hostin, Phaedra Parks, Gary Doudan, Erica Ash, Stephen A. Smith and Tyrod Taylor.
This season picks up from the aftermath of season four as the main characters try to deal with the consequences of Raina St. Patrick’s murder. Along with dealing with that, Ghost must also deal with the Feds getting close to discovering his secret identity and new enemies.
When we spoke to Franky G, who plays Poncho, asking him about how his character has grown from previous seasons and where his character is in the show this season he said, “Every season it grows, from the first to the fifth now. Right now Poncho’s gonna be in a different light. The fans didn’t know what was happening. So when they see it, it’s gonna be like ‘oh.’ Put it this way this season is gonna be the hottest season yet.”
Jerry Ferrera, who plays wealthy attorney Joe Proctor talked about how much he pulled from his own experiences to play the character saying, “I mean because I obviously have no legal background what so ever and I am definitely not smart enough to be a lawyer, but this is kind of the way I grew up from Brooklyn. There is this loyalty with my friends that I grew up with so I always try to play Proctor in that way. And I am a competitive guy and I think Proctor hates to lose. So those are two or thee of the bigger traits I started with him.” Ferrera also spoke about one of his favorite places to film this season, “There’s a few times we shot in my old neighborhood, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn which is just really cool to be back there after all these years. Anytime we’re shooting outside in Bensonhurst that’s always a cool feeling for me.”
Many Power fans have grown to dislike the character of Tariq, the son of Ghost and Tasha due to his responsibility in his sister’s death. We chatted with Michael Rainey Jr. who plays the rebellious teen about how he responds to the negative criticism about his character which he said, “I just laugh at it to be honest. It’s just funny to see how in tuned people are with the show, they really take it that serious.”
After all the fans and media found their seats within Radio City Music Hall, show creator Courtney Kemp said a few words and thanked the cast and crew for their hard work before bringing the cast to the stage. After cast members, Omari Hardwick, Lela Loren, Joseph Sikora, Naturi Naughton and Rotimi left the stage, cast member Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson gave a performance of the show’s theme song “Big Rich Town,” backed by a choir.
Immediately after the premiere screening, the cast headed over to Cipriani’s to celebrate. Power season five premieres on Starz on Sunday, July 1st.