Power Book IV: Force Series Finale: Did Tommy Die?! Joseph Sikora And EP Gary Lennon Break Down Egan's Fate

Warning: This post contains spoilers from the series finale of "Power Book IV: Force." Proceed accordingly.

Talk about a show of "Force."

"Power" spinoff "Book IV: Force" came to its conclusion Friday with a finale that found drug boss Tommy not only surviving but thriving in the hour's final moments. After fending off hits from a Jenard-led CBI and a Vic-hired assassin, Tommy and Miguel received intel about CBI's real whereabouts. So they ambushed the rival gang there. And though Miguel took a bullet in the leg, Tommy's men came out on top.

Later, the surviving CBI members voted no-confidence in Jenard by walking out and joining up with Tommy. Tommy called Mireya, who'd left town in order to keep herself and the baby safe, and let her know that everything had turned out OK. And Tariq, who'd come to Chicago when Tommy called for backup ahead of the ambush, presented his "uncle" with a proposition: "Come to New York and move your powder with me." 

Tommy considered the offer. "So what you say?" Tariq asked. "We start some new s**t or what?" And as the original "Power" theme song started playing, Tommy smiled, looking quite interested in the idea of returning home.

I chatted with star/producer Joseph Sikora and executive producer/showrunner Gary Lennon about the end of a "Power" era, and whether Tommy might pop back up to cancel Christmas at some point in the future. Read on for their thoughts.

TVLINE | Joseph, I didn't think you were gonna be standing at the end of that episode. The fact that Tommy lived?! That doesn't happen in these shows!
JOSEPH SIKORA | [Looks at Gary Lennon] Gary's nodding like, "Yeah!" [Laughs] In some ways — like, Vic lived — it's not unprecedented, in terms of Whitey Bulger living like that. And then with Tommy, Tommy, even though I based a lot of Tommy on Dutch Schultz in terms of the veracity and kind of living outside the gangster life and inside so well, but outside the organization of organized crime, and but Dutch dies a horrible death in Newark, New Jersey, but Meyer Lansky never died. Lucky Luciano died of natural causes, so it's not unprecedented that these very violent crime bosses live. However, not since Al Capone has a New Yorker come to Chicago and taken over. But I'm glad Gary did not have me audited by the IRS and dying of syphilis. [Laughs]

TVLINE | Gary, obviously, you've known the show was going to end for a while. Talk to me about how you first conceived what that final shot would be, what Tommy's fate would be, all of it.
GARY LENNON | Joseph and I were alerted to the fact that this was gonna be a last season somewhere in the middle, I believe. I think Episode 4. So then we really had to hit the pause button and think about where we wanted to end the season, what were the questions that we wanted to answer for the audience, what is the story that came to an end. And so we did a lot of riffing and talking about that, and I think that we landed in the right place. We land in a place where we've delivered upon the promise for an audience, answered a lot of the questions that were at play. And then that last shot — I feel like that came late... It was such a great place to end it. The question that Tariq throws out at Tommy, and Tommy's response and that great smile/smirk that Joseph did, provides an opportunity for our audience to lean in and go, "What does that mean exactly?" I love ending a series, or a season with a lot of questions, and that's a big question the audience will be asking.

TVLINE | That's my next question: Are you both done with Tommy Egan? Or might there be more of him in the ether?
SIKORA | Kim, as long as Gary Lennon is writing Tommy, I'm interested in playing Tommy. I would also love just to go back to that ending image. Robert Townsend did a fantastic job directing this finale episode, but it was Gary who whispered in my ear after I think the first take. He said, "Let's see Tommy really thinking. Let's see this next step in the chapter in Tommy's eyes now. And actually, I'm pretty darn sure you suggested the smirk, the little Tommy smirk, Gary. And it was the right choice. [Laughs] It's just a reaffirmation that Gary thinks in Tommy. It's not just me thinking in Tommy Egan. Gary thinks as Tommy... I believe any character that Gary writes, that we would come up with, would be a special character. But Tommy specifically is equal parts Gary and equal parts me. When we do it from our gut, it's the right choice.
LENNON | I'll just add that I don't feel I'm done writing Tommy Egan's character. II feel like there's so much more to tell.

TVLINE | Starz is still in the Power business; the prequel, "Power: Origins," is coming up. Which — by the way, Joseph, your IMDB lists you as being on that show. I'm not quite sure how the limits of time and space could make that work.
SIKORA | They haven't asked me or anything. And granted, Tommy doesn't meet [his father] Tony Teresi until the "Power" show, because he's doing bids in jail. ButI was like, I could come back playing Tony Teresi, at least to visit young Kate and stuff like that. Even though [Tommy] might not know it. And I hope I get to direct a couple of those.

TVLINE | It would make sense for Starz to do one-off "Power" movies. Have either of you had any conversations with the network about anything like that?
SIKORA | Not with them, but Gary and I have been talking. We've actually been actively developing a movie, the Tommy movie.

TVLINE | Would it be set in New York?
SIKORA | I think that New York would have to be a component.

TVLINE | It occurred to me that it's not just that Jenard is a bad leader, it's that Tommy has become a good leader, and that's a big reason that the CBI guys come to work for him. Would you agree that he's become a leader of men that maybe he wasn't a few seasons ago?
SIKORA | I totally agree, because Tommy would never have seen himself as the leader of men. He would have seen himself as the muscle, and almost like, "Why would I want to lead men? If you can't, if you don't, like go f**k everybody." But now, Tommy's like, "No, maybe not f**k everybody. F**k most people, but like, are you on my side?" [Laughs] I think you're exactly right.

Kris Lofton played the hell out of that character, but it's almost like it's like when you want something too much — acting included — when you want that job too much, people can smell that on you, and you don't get the job. And with Jernard, he wants to lead too much, and people are like, "Yeah, I don't want to be with you." Tommy's like, "Come with me or don't come with me. If you don't come with me, I'm just going to kill all of you." [Laughs]

TVLINE | Gary, Mireya takes herself out of the narrative because she knows Tommy won't be able to focus with her and the baby around. Tell me about creating this woman who seems like a perfect partner for Tommy, who is an impulsive, changeable guy.
LENNON | She's a great partner for Tommy, because she understands both worlds, and so he doesn't have to lead her. She can make some decisions. And when we were in the writer's room deciding how to end this story, the romantic part of the story this season, I felt it was important. We talked a lot about like, what's a moment, what's something she can do that would be a boss move?

Him telling her to get out of town or him making her get out of town takes away all of her agency. So I came up with the idea of letting her do that. And the way Joseph comes into the apartment and finds the letter and reads it, it is full of emotion and, and he knew he's with the right woman, cause that's the girl I wanna be with, right?

TVLINE | I am sad that we won't see Tommy changing diapers and being a dad. Just for the comedy of it. You know, like he's strapped up, and he's freaking out about the diaper genie or something.
SIKORA | [Laughs] I'll never be better than David Schwimmer on Friends doing that, but I'll do my best.

TVLINE | Was there anything of Tommy's that might have made its way into your bag come home with you at the end of the shoot?
SIKORA | I have almost nothing from the original "Power" show. I have a sweater of Tommy's that Starz will probably now try to charge me $700 for, [Laughs], which is a great sweater... The only other thing I've ever taken from any "Power" anything is the shell casing of the blank when Tommy kills Angela. That lives in my sock drawer.
LENNON | I have a Tommy jacket.
SIKORA | You have a Jenard jacket
LENNON | I have a Jenard jacket, too.

Now it's your turn. Grade the series finale of "Power Book IV: Force" and the final season as a whole via the polls below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts!