Warning: This post contains spoilers for season 4 of Power.
As of June 25, Power is back and we finally know what happened to LaKeisha. Here comes the spoiler: She’s alive! We hadn’t seen La La Anthony’s character since Tommy walked her out of that nail salon earlier in season 3. And many people were concerned that she may have been killed off, which is not an uncommon stunt move in the Power writer’s room. Not only is LaKeisha alive, but her new relationship with Tommy is setting her up for an even bigger and riskier role in this season’s drama.
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During an eye-opening series of roundtable interviews with the cast I got to talk to La La and Rotimi — who plays Dre, the aspiring kingpin who is playing his own dangerous game with Tasha and Ghost’s son — about what it’s like to work on a show where the future of your character is never certain. The pair also dished on which castmate they trust the most and whether or not they could survive the drug game.
Check out some of the highlights below.
La La on being a better friend than LaKeisha:
“I know a lot of LaKeishas. I know that feeling of 'Why her, not me?' As actors, we go on auditions and we get told 'no' a hundred million more times than 'yes.' Then, you see who they cast, and naturally it’s not that you’re jealous. It’s like 'Yo, that’s who they — that’s who they chose over me?' That’s when I just pray. You just gotta get out of that. But we’re human, so I get the idea of 'Why her and not me? Why does she have this amazing life and not me? What did she do different than I did?' I do understand the concept, even though I don’t bring that into my friendships.”
“I know a lot of LaKeishas. I know that feeling of 'Why her, not me?' As actors, we go on auditions and we get told 'no' a hundred million more times than 'yes.' Then, you see who they cast, and naturally it’s not that you’re jealous. It’s like 'Yo, that’s who they — that’s who they chose over me?' That’s when I just pray. You just gotta get out of that. But we’re human, so I get the idea of 'Why her and not me? Why does she have this amazing life and not me? What did she do different than I did?' I do understand the concept, even though I don’t bring that into my friendships.”
On their personal relationships with Power’s co-creator and executive producer 50 Cent:
Rotimi: “I know him outside from music as well, but when we were on set he was like, ‘Seize this moment. Live in this moment. Breathe this moment. Visualize where you wanna go.’ That was one of the realest things anybody said to me. Especially for someone who’s at that level to say ‘This is how I did it. I seized my moment and did this.’ Even so, he said ‘Don’t ever sell yourself short. If you want it, do everything to the best of your ability.’ It was cool hearing that from somebody who actually lived the shit."
Rotimi: “I know him outside from music as well, but when we were on set he was like, ‘Seize this moment. Live in this moment. Breathe this moment. Visualize where you wanna go.’ That was one of the realest things anybody said to me. Especially for someone who’s at that level to say ‘This is how I did it. I seized my moment and did this.’ Even so, he said ‘Don’t ever sell yourself short. If you want it, do everything to the best of your ability.’ It was cool hearing that from somebody who actually lived the shit."
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Anthony: “He’s such a great person to go to for advice about anything. Particularly for my character he used to tell me there’s a short term plan and a long term plan. There’s a longer term plan for LaKeisha. For so long it’s like ‘Well, when is she gonna do more? When is it gonna be more?’. It’s a quick burn or it’s a long burn. Now I understand why the long burn is so much better because I’ve been on the show since episode 1, season 1 and I’m still here. Now my character’s really having her moments and things like that. That’s exciting. He told me that was gonna happen and it is happening. One thing I tell him is that he’s one of the few people in my life who when he says he’s gonna do something, he really does it. That’s something I am forever indebted to him for. He talked to me about this show before it was anything and told me not that he was going to give me the chance, but that he was going to give me the opportunity to seize the moment and make it mine. I had to go in there and do that.”
Could either of them survive the streets if they weren’t entertainers?
R: “Yeah!” [Laughs]
R: “Yeah!” [Laughs]
A: “I’m from the hood so I can survive!”
La La on staying focused through personal issues:
“I just separate it. Work is work. Personal is personal. Power forces you to be on your A-game, be great at what you do. I can’t bring my personal life into Power. If Ro was there he’d be like ‘Yo, get your shit together. We’re here to work. We’re not here to be dealing with all that.’ It’s actually good because it allows me to step outside of things that might be going on in my life and just focus on work. We all need an escape from real life sometimes. To have a career where I get to play pretend and escape from my real life at times is therapeutic.”
“I just separate it. Work is work. Personal is personal. Power forces you to be on your A-game, be great at what you do. I can’t bring my personal life into Power. If Ro was there he’d be like ‘Yo, get your shit together. We’re here to work. We’re not here to be dealing with all that.’ It’s actually good because it allows me to step outside of things that might be going on in my life and just focus on work. We all need an escape from real life sometimes. To have a career where I get to play pretend and escape from my real life at times is therapeutic.”
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Do you worry about being killed off on the show?
A: “Hell yeah. Often!”
A: “Hell yeah. Often!”
R: “I be on the phone with my agent like ‘Aye, just in case I don’t make it, bro…’”
A: “When we get the scripts, I don’t think I ever read scripts so fast. And then at the end you’re like ‘Whew!’”
La La on who she trusts:
L: “We really are close friends. So, yeah. I trust him and he’s honest with me in every aspect of my life. In my acting, which I really need him for. I’m like ‘Yo, tell me the truth. Am I where I need to be? Am I out of pocket? How should I play this?’ and we bounce ideas off. We send our auditions to each other like ‘Watch this. Criticize. Tell me.’ We’ve really bonded from that perspective.”
L: “We really are close friends. So, yeah. I trust him and he’s honest with me in every aspect of my life. In my acting, which I really need him for. I’m like ‘Yo, tell me the truth. Am I where I need to be? Am I out of pocket? How should I play this?’ and we bounce ideas off. We send our auditions to each other like ‘Watch this. Criticize. Tell me.’ We’ve really bonded from that perspective.”