Top Boy season 5 – or season 3, as Netflix has branded it – spoilers follow, include the ending.
Araloyin Oshunremi's Stef has gone to some dark places in the final ever season of Top Boy.
The impact of his brother Jamie's death has continued like an aftershock in season five allowing Araloyin to flex his acting muscles with the grittier text.
In this exclusive interview with Digital Spy, the Top Boy star opens up about how his season five story arc has helped him grow and discusses what's next for him and Stef as he sets his ambitions on a Top Boy/Power crossover. But not before breaking down the biggest moments from that gripping finale, starting with his thoughts on who killed Sully.
We need you to confirm: was it Stef who shot Sully?
I don't know.
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Oh, you know. Have they not let you in on it? Or have they told you who it might be?
They haven't said anything to me.
Do you think it was Stef who shot Sully?
Um… I'm not sure, to be honest.
What was your response when you read that in the script?
I didn't know the end until very late. I was told on the way to a meeting in the car. When I got told the end in the car, I was kind of shocked. I didn't really expect it. But at the same time, everything has to come to an end. All characters must have an end, too.
Sully [usually] gets away with murder, or he avoids death but when I saw that, I was like: "Well, this is finally the end."
Did you feel that that was the right way to conclude his story?
Yeah, because in all the other seasons, he escapes from death a lot. But he's the one who's always killing people, and it made you think he was invincible. So to end with him dying, it shows the audience that no one's invincible, and anyone can die.
If they didn't reveal Sully's killer, how did they actually break down the death and the final moments of the show to you?
Oh. They just told me my scene, they didn't tell me about anything else. They literally just told me: "You're going to have to do this scene with Sully."
When I was listening to them, I was thinking: "I get what you guys are trying to do." But at the same time no kid – who has had both their parents die, their best friend die, their older brother die, the person who was taking care of them while their brother was in jail die – is not going to shoot their brother's killer right in front of them.
So I was like: "OK, cool. I get that, you want to get him away from that cycle but if we're being realistic, anyone in that position is killing him."
But at the same time, it's a TV show.
Do you hope it was Steph who delivered 'justice'?
Yep, obviously.
This season you've got those intense feelings of grief and anger up against those really intense emotions that you have for Erin. What was it like flowing between those two feelings?
It wasn't very hard, because with Erin, Stef's quite bubbly and happy and joyful.
When we see him with the [Fields] gang we see him getting into that violent area – but then he sees Erin and he kind of switches off from that anger mode. So whenever he's going from that anger to Erin, or, let's say, anger to happiness it wasn't hard to switch over.
Do you think that the complexity of Stef's journey has helped you grow as an actor?
Yeah, one hundred percent. In the first season, he's quite joyful and happy and in the second season, we see him being quite moody and sad a lot. I feel like in the third season, we see Stef very angry a lot of the time but also, at the same time, we see him happy – but in a different way to the first season.
So I feel like there's a different range of emotions I've had to tap into and master, which has helped my acting a lot.
Erin and Stef both lost loved ones because of Sully. What was it like exploring that relationship between the two?
It was really good, really good. Stef and Erin, they've never really met each other before in previous seasons. So to have that connection because of Sully, even though it's negative, it helped them bond even more. It helped both of them to understand each other's pain, and through each other's pain, they got closer.
But at the same time, we see that it's very, very sad that these two young people are being closer to the other because of death, which is kind of upsetting.
Speaking of upsetting, have you watched Dushane's death back?
Mmm-hmmm.
What was the atmosphere around filming that, versus your experience watching that back?
I wasn't there when they were filming that but watching it, it was like – I was like: "Is that how it's going out?"
Watching Dushane die like that was quite upsetting. It was quite a cold moment because we started everything with those two.
So for Sully to kill Dushane, and to kill him in that way, and to not even shed a tear – well, he shed a tear, but to not even be upset and distraught, but just to watch him die on the floor, and to pick the drugs and climb back over [him] I was like: this guy has no heart at all.
How would you have liked to have seen Dushane's journey end then?
I feel like Dushane had a way to get out. He could have invested in Shelley's business, moved out of the area and really turned legit, instead of just trying to be illegal.
The death of Jeffrey could have been avoided. I feel like all he had to do was get his share of drugs from Sully and try to build upon that, and turn legit.
But it's him trying to steal everything, and then that causes him to die.
I feel like he had a path to be legit, and he had someone there who cared about him as well, who he cared about but he was too blind to see that. He just cared about power.
Do you think there's any spinoff potential for Top Boy?
I feel like there is. There could be potential with Stefan's characters. I don't feel that with Jaq's character because she turns legit by taking away the drugs, we can see that she doesn't want to be involved in the drugs stuff.
I feel like with Stef there's definitely potential that he could probably fly to America. I feel like Stef's character could fly out there and do some stuff.
In the end, there's definitely potential.
All episodes of Top Boy season 5 are available to stream on Netflix.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
