Tasha St. Patrick’s life is looking very different in the Power spinoff, Power Book II: Ghost, which premieres Sept. 6 on STARZ. Tasha took the fall for Tariq, who killed Ghost, in the Power series finale, and now she’s in prison. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with Naturi Naughton about whether or not Tasha feels any regret about taking the blame for Tariq.
“No. Although it is hard, but it’s the job of a mother,” Naturi told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY during Power Book II: Ghost’s junket. “I think that’s always been Tasha’s thing, even when she was backing up Ghost when he was in prison. Even if he was cheating with Angela, she still doesn’t regret standing by her family. She definitely feels scared and fearful of what the outcome will be, but in her mind, she feels like if I go down the better outcome is for me to suffer than my children to suffer. I think that’s always been her kind of theme throughout the seasons, a very sacrificial mother. It is scary, though. I think when we find Tasha this season she’s like… I don’t know how we’re going to do this, and I want Tariq to stay legit and focus on school because I don’t want him to end up like Ghost or like me. I think we are in a place where you’ll see her really examine the life that she’s been living.”
Going from Tasha’s luxury apartment to prison is quite the shock for the beloved character. However, Tasha isn’t one to back down from a fight. “It’s hard,” Naturi continued. “You’re literally like in a cell. We shot some of these scenes in a real prison in Queens and seeing other inmates, being in the cell… They locked the doors. I literally went through the whole experience and started to feel, even the few hours there I was like, ‘I gotta get out of here.’ I can’t imagine what that’s like. I have so much empathy for the emotional part of the character, but I definitely feel that the way Tasha is kind of turning it around is to utilize her resources, her power. She starts getting allies. She creates relationships with people she knows she can manipulate. Tasha is a fighter and a survivor, so no matter what the position you put her in, she’ll probably scratch her way back to the top.”
Tasha taking the fall for Tariq regarding Ghost’s murder is the ultimate sacrifice. Given what she knows Tariq can do, does this change the way Tasha looks at her son? “I think it’s definitely a scary thing,” Tasha told HollywoodLife. “She knows that even at the end of season 6 she knows what’s about to happen, she feels it, and that’s why she tries to stop it. Because she knows once he does that it’s going to torment him in a different way and you cant go back. He’s just a young kid kind of who impulsively does things, and I didn’t want him to make that choice because, despite what anger he’s feeling, I know that’s something that will haunt you and live with you forever. Now that the choice has been made, she has to support him and figure it out. But in retrospect, I kind of wish that I could have saved him from himself.”
Tasha and Tariq are just a few of the familiar faces in the Power spinoff. She revealed that Councilman Tate pops in, and “you may see Tommy.” However, there’s one thing that’s definitely not happening. “No one’s coming back from the dead though, so this is no going to be like a zombie show where they come out the grave and haunt you. Sorry, guys. The people that are dead are dead,” Naturi noted. Power Book II: Ghost will air Sundays on STARZ.