Courtney Kemp Sounds Off On How She Kills People Off Power & How Cooper Saxe Has Survived This Long
As soon as Power debuted, the fans were glued to the dramatic series. Since then, it has generated an entire franchise that includes Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Power Book IV: Force, and Power Book V: Influence. The series showcases the drug game to some extent and some interesting characters.
Fans of the Power Universe can also expect some notable characters to die. Now, creator Courtney Kemp discusses how she decides to kill people.
Indeed, nobody expected Tariq to kill his father, James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), and many of us are still shocked by Tasha (Naturi Naughton) killing her best friend LaKeisha (La La Anthony).
Not to mention all the deaths on Tommy’s hands, including his father Tony (William Sadler) and his girlfriend Holly (Lucy Walters). From Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) killing his son Shawn (Sinqua Walls) to Raina’s heart-breaking death (Donshea Hopkins), while Tariq was watching, there were many fatalities in the Universe of Power.
Courtney Kemp was on Instagram Live for her weekly Q&A session earlier this week. When did a fan ask her how she decides to kill characters off?
“Here’s the thing about the big deaths at the end of the season, so what we ask ourselves at the beginning of the season is, ‘Who are the innocent?'” she said. “I know that sounds terrible, but if you think about it, if you are a hardcore Power fan, if you look back, we always off someone who is an innocent. Because the reality of the drug game is that people get hurt. There is collateral damage. The villains don’t always just get hurt. They hurt bystanders all the time, so that’s an important thing. Toward episodes eight, nine, or 10, we will actually kill someone who is an innocent.”
She was later asked how Cooper Saxe, a long-time menace in the series, has survived this long. “There’s a bunch of different reasons,” she said.
“From the beginning, Shane Johnson came in and he murdered this part. It was not supposed to go this long. I definitely did not see this character from the beginning living this long. But what happened was Shane was so amazing, and then the character became so adaptable because he really wasn’t a person with principles.” Kemp shared.
“And, you know I love to write about people without principles. So that’s why it became more interesting. I always like that push and pull of cops and robbers. And you guys know, I love to write about lawyers, so that’s why Saxe has lived so long. He also does know way too much information which is perfect for us because that gives you thread.”
Next week, Kemp will be sitting down with some of the cast former cast members that were killed off on IG Live.
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