Dad does not play about his son, in real life or on television!
Warning: Raising Kanan season finale spoilers ahead.
According to Complex Joey Badass is back on Power Book III: Raising Kanan by popular demand.
Fans believed that his character Unique’s brother Ronnie (Grantham Coleman) beat him to death in Season 3, Episode 5, aptly titled “Brothers and Keepers.”
For weeks since then, Raising Kanan fans have been protesting, demanding that the beloved character make a return—including the actor’s father, who staged his own protest by getting rid of Starz.
“He’s a big fan of the show. He called me after he’s seen Episode 6 and he’s like, ‘It’s been two weeks and they still ain’t find the body? I’m canceling my subscription,’” Joey tells Complex. “And I thought he was playing and so he called me the next week after watching Episode 7. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I just canceled my subscription.’”
His dad isn’t alone.
Other fans threatened to stop watching the show altogether if Unique really did die. Joey’s character has dug his way into people’s hearts since Season 1.
He started off as Raquel Thomas’ (Patina Miller) biggest rival in the drug game in Jamaica, Queens, but after facing plenty of turmoil together, their relationship eventually turned romantic.
Joey was forced to take a hiatus from the show after his tour created a scheduling conflict with the show’s production schedule. He and the show’s creator, Sascha Penn, talked it out and decided that Unique would return to the show, and the character makes a surprising reappearance at the end of the Season 3 finale.
“It definitely was an eye-opener for me. I mean, I always knew that Unique was somewhat of a fan favorite, but I think that became very evident and clear with the event of his hypothetical death,” he says about people’s reactions to his departure. “I received a lot of flowers and praise for what I’ve done with this character. So that was cool to see knowing that I was coming back the whole time.”
The show is executive produced and narrated by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who also produced the rest of the shows inside the Power Universe. Raising Kanan is the third show in the TV franchise, and it is a prequel to the original.
It follows Kanan’s upbringing, who was one of the villians in Power and originally played by 50 Cent. The rapper-turned-TV-exec has been worldbuilding with an array of characters and stories, while adding some big names and stars to the shows, which keeps fans dedicated and coming back for more.
The shows have served as starting points for musicians to take a stab at acting. But this isn’t Joey is not one of them.
This isn’t his first acting role; and being an actor was always part of his big plan, and he says he used music as the vehicle to catapult his acting career.
