Joey Bada$$ Reacts to That Shocking [SPOILER] in “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”: 'Boy, Was I Wrong' (Exclusive)

The rapper stars as drug kingpin Unique in Starz's 'Power' prequel series about Kanan Stark, the character 50 Cent originated

This post contains spoilers from Friday’s episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

The southside Jamaica, Queens, community suffered a major loss on Friday’s episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, as tensions between Ronnie (Grantham Coleman) and his younger brother Unique (Joey Bada$$) reached an all-time high that led to Unique's death.

Ronnie was released from jail at the beginning of season 3, and, as Joey Bada$$ tells PEOPLE,  “Unique was excited that his brother was home, and he looked at it like... in the last season, he lost his right-hand man. And now, boom, his brother's home. I think he was looking at it like, ‘Yo, I got some support.’”

While Unique — a fan favorite since season 1 whose love story with Raq (Patina Miller) seemed to cement his place in Kanan’s story — was eager to bring Ronnie under his wing in the family's drug-dealing business, Ronnie was intent on taking Unique out of the equation and grabbing the reins himself. At the end of episode 5, he did just that.

Juliana (Rosal Colon) hinted that Ronnie needed to take care of Unique in order to gain control of the operation, and when Unique came looking for Ronnie, ready to fight him for exposing his affair with Raq, he took advantage of the moment and brutally beat his younger brother to death. The episode ended with Ronnie driving away from Unique's body, which he'd left lifeless and battered in a roadside ditch.

In light of his character’s heartbreaking death, Joey Bada$$, 28, spoke to PEOPLE about his three-season journey on the Power spinoff (which tells the story of a young Kanan Stark, the character 50 Cent originated), opening up about the complicated dynamic with Raq and that abrupt ending to Unique’s story.

Related: Raising Kanan's Mekai Curtis Says Executive Producer 50 Cent Has ‘Handed the Baton Off’ on Power Book III (Exclusive)

As a character, Unique saw so many life changes. His business changed a lot, he changed a lot, he went from an enemy of Raq to her love interest. Walk me through how you navigated that character arc over each of the three seasons.
Unique is a very ambitious character. I feel like his vision was always larger than what his reality was, so the fact that he had so many changes I don't think was a surprise, because he's always had his eyes on the prize in many types of ways. In season 1, he was kind of on top of his game, and then he got f---ed over, if you will, but he's such an ambitious, resilient type of character that his setbacks only made for bigger comebacks each time.

Did you see the Raq love story coming when it was first hinted at in the finale of season 2?
I don't think that any of us necessarily saw it coming, but I will say that I was always intelligent enough to kind of feed into it. So from very early I was planting those seeds, and I think it was something that even the writer's room didn't necessarily expect, but just the way that I played the character, it kind of set it up for it. And that was just really a result of Patina and [my] chemistry, where it just made sense to play with them like that. But then also, it was just like, I thought that that was very realistic. Why wouldn't this guy want to play with her like that?

Were you rooting for them to be together, or did you feel like it was going to be this short-lived fling that would end in flames?
Who knows where it could have went, but I think that those two characters — Unique and Raq — really do have a genuine interest in each other because they have so much in common. They are in the same seat, respectively, in their individual lives. They’ve got so many people depending on them, and they're the heads of their operations. And when you’ve got two people like that, there’s so much that you can relate to with each other, and I feel like they almost both felt as if — there's nobody else like that in their lives. Raq won't find another Unique, and Unique won't find another Raq.

They would've made a crazy team as well, with Raq really trying to get out the game and Unique wanting to be on top of his game. I think that there could have been some type of opportunity for Raq to be the brains and Unique to be, like, the muscle. A guy can only dream at this point.

Instead, things took a sudden turn at the end of episode 5 and Unique was killed. The scene itself was pretty brutal. Were you shocked when you read the script?
Absolutely. I was devastated. But all good things come to an end, and I feel like this character has helped me spread my wings in the TV and film industry. I mean, it's very unfortunate. I hate to be leaving the Kanan family.

Related: 'Raising Kanan' 's Patina Miller Was 'Laughing' at the Sight of Her Character's '80s Mullet Wig

What was that last day on set like? Was it an emotional goodbye?
Everybody knew it was my last episode, so it was a very somber vibe. I definitely felt all of the love and all of the reluctance that everybody had, including myself, that it had to come to an end. But hey, the way I'm looking at it, on the bright side — I survived two and a half seasons. I don't think people thought I would've made it that far.

When you read the script, were you like, "So, do we have any flexibility here?” Did you try to change his fate?
Yeah. Trust me, I tried to make it happen. I called [showrunner] Sascha Penn right away, like, "Dude, are you serious?"

How do you think fans are going to react to this death?
I don't think they're going to like it one bit. I think a lot of people are going to be a little disappointed. I think a lot of people are going to be a little let down. It's like, "What the f---? He's dead?" It is not even the end of the season! It's the f----ing middle of the season!

What do you feel was left unsaid or unfinished for Unique?
I feel like we've never truly seen Unique reach his full potential. He's had some setbacks, and he's been climbing back up ever since. I mean, s---, the romance with Raq, I feel like there’s a little bit unsaid. I feel like Unique's relationship with his child's mom was a little bit... I feel like we could have definitely expanded on that more.

And also the relationship with his brother. Unique is just kind of a lone wolf, so I think he was looking forward to building something with his brother and his brother being home, but that just kind of took a different turn because they were just on two different pages. And the unfortunate happened.

When Ronnie came into the picture at the beginning of season 3, did you have any suspicions that it might lead to a downfall for Unique?
I thought I was going to have to kill him. I thought Unique would be getting rid of him. I didn't really see it the other way around. I mean, I saw that they was bumping heads, but I thought maybe they'd either get on the same page or Unique would've just had to take him out. But boy, was I wrong.

I wish I could have told Unique. I wish I could have warned him.

How would you describe Ronnie and his role in this story?
Ronnie is like the dark gray cloud that kind of came through and f---ed everything up. It is funny because Grantham, that's my man, but there's this word that we use to describe Ronnie, and it's cantankerous. That is Ronnie to a literal T. He's disagreeable to deal with, contentious.

What do you feel Unique's role was overall in Kanan's story? It is Raising Kanan, after all. 
I mean, listen — he saved Kanan's mom. If it wasn't for Unique, Raq could've been deleted, so I feel like that's definitely a huge part of it. But also just initially, serving as an adversary, I feel like that gave Kanan [Mekai Curtis] a lot of perspective on what can go on, being a part of this life that he's getting into, and almost even how to deal with your enemies, because yeah — they put Unique through the wringer.

They sent him to jail. They tried to kill him. They did all of this, and then he ended up becoming an ally. So I feel like that's a lesson that Kanan could absorb coming up in this street life. I mean, Raq took "keep your enemies closer" to a whole different level.

This show has been your most long-term screen role. How does it feel looking back on it now, knowing that it's over?
It feels rewarding, to say the least. It taught me so much. It brought me a new family, a new network of people to connect with for the rest of my life. And I feel like it's opened many doors for me. It's brought me so much exposure to my career as an actor, as well as a musician. And yeah, overall I'm just very grateful for the experience and I'm looking forward to what the future holds.

This type of role was something that I held back on playing for a long time because I just didn't want to get pigeonholed into being a drug dealer-type of actor because I was a rapper. I felt like that was so close to home. I wanted to show people — with things like [the short film] Two Distant Strangers and Mr. Robot — that I had range, but I felt like this role came at the right time, and it was perfect. 

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Power Book III: Raising Kanan is now streaming on the Starz app, with new episodes airing Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.

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