Joseph Sikora Is Ready for More Death to Fuel the Power Universe

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Joseph Sikora has been portraying the intense drug lord Tommy Egan in the Power franchise for 12 years, starting with the third season premiere of Power Book IV: Force on Friday. This season marks the end of Tommy’s time in Chicago. Sikora says it’s bittersweet – he’s sad to leave the city, but excited about the complicated and tangled situations Tommy gets into this season.

The season kicks off with the episode “Do or Die,” immediately following the last season’s cliffhanger. Tommy discovers his enemy, Miguel, has kidnapped his girlfriend, Mireya, who is also Miguel’s sister. Tommy prepares for a fight, but Mireya manages to escape before he arrives. This leads to a fragile truce, which is broken when Miguel’s attempt to kill Tommy fails. The episode ends with Tommy surprisingly choosing a more strategic approach instead of violence. He stops Vic, a former associate now working as an FBI informant, as Vic leaves town, and recruits him to be a mole within the FBI.

Everyone survived this time around, but in the world of Power, no one is truly safe. Showrunner Terry Sikora compares Tommy to classic gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Whitey Bulger – criminals who managed to live long lives despite their dangerous lifestyles. He describes Tommy as resilient, like a cockroach, suggesting he’s likely to survive, though that isn’t guaranteed. Sikora explains that the events at the end of this season will pave the way for future storylines, and that character deaths are necessary for the Power universe to continue growing.

The season two finale left viewers fearing Tommy would lose another girlfriend to violence. However, the season three premiere showed she actually survived. The writers debated whether killing her off would have been too much for Tommy’s character, or if it would have felt repetitive.

If the show continued, Mireya’s character needed to be fully committed to Tommy, and then be put in a situation that tested his dedication to her. This follows the established pattern of the Power universe, where characters often have their happiness taken away as soon as they achieve it.

Given his past, it’s unrealistic to expect Tommy to have a perfect life. You can’t always get everything you want, and even wealth doesn’t guarantee happiness – look at someone like Jeff Bezos. Tommy’s actions have consequences; you can’t profit from illegal activities without facing problems. He can’t expect to live a happy, carefree life while involved in such dangerous activities. History shows us that kind of lifestyle rarely ends well – just think of the fate of Tony Montana.

Scarface is full of life lessons.
I think Tommy has seen that movie 300 times.

I’ve never seen Tommy as shaken up as he was when he arrived at Miguel’s, fearing Mireya was gone – and I don’t usually think of Tommy as someone who gets scared. It felt like we were seeing a completely new, vulnerable side of him. That was definitely a choice made by showrunner Gary Lennon. He wanted Tommy to have a similar raw energy to Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire – that desperate, frantic feeling when he thinks Stella is gone. This whole situation with Miguel’s gang is fantastic. Miguel is a great opponent for Tommy, and that’s because Manuel Eduardo Ramirez is such an incredibly intense and talented actor! It’s really exciting to work with him.

This episode really highlighted how much Tommy resembles Ghost, both in his clever planning and how he sometimes uses people, like Diamond. It was interesting to see Tommy becoming someone who mirrored both the man he admired and resented. Ghost famously described himself and Tommy as two sides of the same coin, and viewers always sensed Tommy wasn’t as strategically sharp as Ghost. But the show Force cleverly revisited their dynamic, suggesting Tommy was capable of everything Ghost could do. Now, with Diamond in a similar position to Tommy, the question becomes: will Diamond prove to be just as capable? That’s the central mystery of the new season. Like Tommy, Diamond is being pulled in different directions by his brother Jenard, and we’re left wondering where his true loyalties will ultimately lie.

Tommy decides to keep Vic alive, hoping to use him as a source of information. This shows Tommy is starting to think more strategically, but it’s questionable whether he’s being too optimistic about controlling such a risky situation. While it’s a smart move, viewers might worry that Tommy is overconfident in his ability to manipulate both Vic and the prosecutor, Stacy Marks. He also might be underestimating how difficult it will be to use Vic as an informant. Vic is shifty and untrustworthy, like a mole or a rat, but he’s also a threat. A special mention goes to Shane Harper for his realistic portrayal of Vic – it takes dedication for a young actor to fully embrace playing such a slimy character.

Season three wraps up Tommy’s current storyline, though there’s potential for a new show, Power: Legacy, centered around him and his nephew, Tariq. It’s fascinating to consider returning to the original Power universe and exploring their complex relationship, especially given how things left off at the end of Power Book II: Ghost season one.

First, Tommy needs to make it through season three of Force. But Michael Rainey Jr. has really brought Tariq to life as a character—he’s just as cunning and dangerous as his father. Tommy could be either a powerful enemy or a valuable ally. Family forgiveness is always possible, and I’m excited by the idea of these two reconnecting. Tariq is now well-educated and has experience with both dangerous jobs and drug dealing, while Tommy was raised on the streets. Seeing how they work together, what they learn from each other, and how their inherent conflicts and love play out would be compelling.

With the end of ‘Power’, we’re starting a new series called ‘Origins’ that will explore the early days of Tommy’s criminal life alongside Ghost. I’m hoping to be involved as a director – I recently directed an episode of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ after joining the Directors Guild of America. I’ve also been suggested as a potential voice-over narrator for ‘Origins’, similar to 50 Cent’s role on ‘Raising Kanan’. Starz, if you’re interested, I’m available!

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2025-11-08 04:55