Power Book II: Ghost season 3 spoilers follow.
Power Book II: Ghost season 3 returned to our screens on Friday (March 17) and the explosive first episode saw the introduction of new character Noma (Caroline Chikezie), the aftermath of Zeke's (Daniel Bellomy) murder, Cooper Saxe's (Shane Johnson) continued untrustworthiness and Tariq St Patrick's (Michael Rainey Jr) life after getting off for the murder of Professor Jabari Reynolds (Justin McManus).
This article contains major spoilers for Ghost season 3, episode one so if you haven't watched the first episode look away now.
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Related: Power Book II: Ghost season 2 ending explained
In season 2, Tariq's girlfriend Lauren (Paige Hurd) was killed off in a plan hatched by Cane (Woody McClain), and executed by Brayden (Gianni Paolo) and Effie (Alix Lapri) – with Effie getting her hands dirty, knocking Lauren unconscious, placing her into her car and dumping Lauren's car into a reservoir.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Rainey Jr revealed how Tariq will react to finding out Lauren's murder was carried out by Cane, Brayden and Effie – who he's now working with to move Noma's drugs.
"You know what's crazy, Tariq is used to people lying to him, used to betrayal and everything, but I feel like this is one thing that could drive him to the ground.
"Obviously he put his trust in these two people, Effie and Brayden. And he's not gonna expect them to be the ones that did it," the actor continued. "But obviously, you know, that's gonna hurt him 100%. Especially now because, in the beginning of season three, he's kind of becoming a different person as far as putting trust into people.
"He's actually finally trying to exhibit some trust and he's trying to be a little bit trustworthy with people. But, you know, we see how that turns back on him. We'll see."
The end of the first episode delivered a huge plot twist with the news that Lauren was indeed alive and in a safe house overseen by Prosecutor Jenny Sullivan (Paton Ashbrook) – who got Lauren to place the wired-watch in Tariq's draw in the first place.
Reacting to the news of Lauren being alive, the Ghost actor said: "Man. That's gonna be a crazy one. Obviously, he's not gonna even believe it. I don't know, it's gonna be insane. I can't really say too much because you know that has to come soon. Tariq is definitely not expecting his girl to still be alive, I can tell you that much."
Related: Power Book II: Ghost future revealed as Bel-Air star Michael Ealy joins
Discussing what that would mean for Tariq and Effie's now blossoming relationship, Rainey Jr. added: "See, that's where stuff gets tricky. Because now, like I said, he's trying to put a little more trust into Effie and in their relationship they're kind of building, and they're kind of getting closer and closer.
"All while on the side they're kind of separated at the same time because Effie's keeping something from him that's so detrimental. And you know, it's a tough one. Tariq is good though, he handles the little love circle pretty well.
"She's (Effie) like: 'Yep, I got what I want'. But then again, does she really have what she wants right now? I don't know."
The Power actor also weighed in on what this could mean for Lauren and Tariq's relationship and whether she could change her mind from protecting Tariq and snitch.
"She's obviously gonna have a lot of mixed emotions. She's not gonna know what to think of Tariq. She's obviously she's going to think Tariq might have put people up to this, she might think that he might have nothing to do with it. But who knows. It's gonna be a rocky road between Lauren and Tariq. I can definitely tell you that. It's going to be pretty rocky."
Power Book II: Ghost season 3 airs every Friday on Lionsgate+ in the UK available via Amazon Prime Video, and Starz in the US.
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Shyvonne Thomas is Digital Spy's Photo Director, looking after Digital Spy's and Hearst's digital brand visuals across the board. She also writes and conducts interviews specialising in the Power shows, anything Beyoncé, family days out, as well as championing content across Black TV shows and movies.
Having started her career as Shopping Assistant for Mother & Baby and Pregnancy and Birth magazines in 2010, Shyvonne moved on to become Picture Assistant at heat magazine in 2012, before joining the Daily Star, Express and OK! websites as Galleries Editor in 2014.
Shyvonne is an NCTJ-accredited journalist and studied an honours degree in Journalism. In 2021, Shyvonne was shortlisted for the PPA Unsung Hero Award. Shyvonne is also a proud mum.
