Rapper-turned-showrunner 50 Cent struck gold out of the box with the debut of the Starz series “Power,” creating a franchise centered on the lifestyle of James “Ghost” St. Patrick.
A kid from Queens who chose to sell drugs and hustle to escape a life of poverty used his entrepreneurial spirit to become not only a successful club owner but also a politician.
Omari Hardwick, who plays Ghost, was particularly proud of the storyline, which detailed the complicated lives of many Black men in America.
However, as the character arc shifted on the show, Hardwick — and millions of viewers —began to disagree with some of the decisions the writers had Ghost make.
He candidly discussed his feelings about the show’s ending and change in direction by season 6 in a recent interview with Rolling Out. The 50-year-old expressed his disdain for the questionable choices his beloved character was forced into and voiced his disappointment with the way Ghost was ultimately killed off in the series’ dramatic conclusion.
“Ghost didn’t get to die with anybody,” he said. “Ghost died alone. The n—ga died on the floor. The cold floor. That hurt me. That’s not good.”
Hardwick, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., said, “That’s not a statement that we should make to the Black community … or other communities.”
He was asked if he voiced his concerns to Courtney Kemp, the show’s creator, and Hardwick replied, “Absolutely. My only issue was that. Had no issue with him dying.” He claims “the story started going” in a direction that he did not agree with.
“I had an issue with the way the story started it going,” Hardwick confessed. “That’s not the way the story started. It started making him an anti-hero. He was originally the anti-hero’s hero. … He started becoming not heroic. That wasn’t what I signed up for.”
“It took a direction I wasn’t too keen on,” he continued, “and many of the fans who have obviously spoken as to not be too keen on it. But when you have a young Black man, shot not only his father …”
Actress Naturi Naughton played Tasha St. Patrick, Ghost’s wife and mother of his three children in the series. Their son, Tariq, is responsible for his father’s death.
Fans who were originally enthusiastic about “Power,” making it one of the highest rating shows on the Starz network, didn’t sign up for that either and started to turn off.
Many called it a “masterpiece” before Tommy found Ghost lying on the floor of his own nightclub, bleeding from a gunshot wound in season 6. Some even joked that they ended their Starz membership due to not wanting to part with Hardwick’s character on the beloved series.
After the clip from Hardwick’s interview was posted on the Power Is Fire Instagram fan page, more fans chimed in, agreeing with the star.
“There would be no Power Universe without Ghost. He deserved better,” one person wrote. Someone replied to the comment, writing, “Omari must’ve really pissed off Courtney Kemp. They killed off his character cheap, stepped over the corpse and kept it moving. Everybody got new job/series except him … even Tommy with that ridiculous fake car crash comeback.”
“Ghost completely changed, and Tariq was just absurd. Power was a masterpiece up until season 6,” a third comment said. “Yeah, I agree with him. The way Ghost died was wack. I didn’t agree with him dying, but the way he died. Then the way Tasha wasn’t supportive of her husband trying to change made the way him dying even more wack.”
One person offered an alternative ending, writing, “They could’ve brought him back from the dead like Unique (Power III: Raising Kanan) or Tommy (Power IV: Force). He didn’t deserve to have Ghost deleted like that… Omari is a compelling addition to the series.”
The fan continued, “They could’ve had him resurface in Nigeria, London, Brazil or Mexico on an international type vibe. Doesn’t matter if it was originally his show… hence the Power Universe. After a quick check of his filmography, he’s still working regularly so he’ll be fine regardless.”
Since his departure from “Power,” Hardwick has appeared in other movies such as “Fantasy Football,” alongside Marsai Martin and Kelly Rowland and the Jennifer Lopez-led film, “My Mother.”
He credited 50 for giving him “the beautiful gift” of the character, Ghost, whom he described as a guy who “didn’t have opportunities” and had to make “left turns” instead of “right turns.”
“He was in his own way, Ghost being the person in his own way,” Hardwick said. “But he was the parent who actually was trying to be a great parent. So you don’t have him shot. You don’t have Naturi Naughton’s character shot.”
2⃣ Embracing the Game: While Tasha may not have directly participated in the drug trade, she understood its complexities and accepted her role as a partner in Ghost's criminal empire, which added a layer of intrigue to her character. pic.twitter.com/WLXorQGBsw
— MOVIE BOT (@MOVIEBOT__) July 19, 2023
This is not the first time that Hardwick spoke about not agreeing with how Ghost became the bad guy. In 2020 after the series finale he said, “At the end of the day, I was a strong Black father figure that wanted the best for his family, especially his children and their future.”
By the sixth season’s finale, “Power” was pulling in extremely poor ratings, exiting the TV Guide with the lowest of the 63 episodes of the series. The series finale garnered approximately 1.89 million viewers on Starz, which meant it only earned a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 in the Nielsen ratings, according to TV Series Finale.
If Hardwick had had it his way, he would have had a season 7 to redeem his character.
Fans even petitioned to have his character brought back, asking showrunners to find the money and a storyline that made sense.
The actor said in 2023, that he had been “asked … to come back,” but he and the team could not agree on his compensation.
After hearing this, one social media user on X wrote, “Man somebody cut that check pls.”
Acting might also be off his radar. The all-around entertainer and poet has been focusing on his spoken word career, releasing a single earlier this year. He dropped a song with Tank called “The Greatest” from the project “Concrete & Whiskey Act II: A Bourbon 30 Series.”
Fans can learn more about Ghost and his early years in the Ghost and Tommy Eagan spinoff “Origins,” the fourth spinoff series, according to VIBE.
