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Tag: power book iv: force

  • From football to Hollywood: Issac Keys shares his journey of reinvention

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    Many professional athletes discover a new life when they’re done playing their sport. For Issac Keys, the transition from football to acting was unusual. After several turbulent chapters, Keys is now in a better place in life. He is ready to share his story in his upcoming memoir. The Grind Don’t Stop, It Just Changes. The book documents moments of his NFL career, the uncertainty he lived through, and how he transitioned to acting. Keys wants to use this book to convey the message that anyone can adapt and overcome life-derailing obstacles.

    “Look at that pivotal point in your life where you had to make a change because you were derailed from the thing you were supposed to do. Think about the things you wanted so bad and worked so hard for, and they were all of a sudden taken away. For me, I realized it was a part of the grind. It didn’t stop, it changed,” said Issac Keys, actor and former NFL star.

    The Grind Don’t Stop, It Just Changes debuts in February 2026. Keys decided to tell his story because of the passing of his father, Issac Keys Sr. Keys Sr’s health started to decline due to onset dementia and sepsis. He passed away on June 8, 2024, two days after the actor’s birthday. This experience led the former NFL star to reevaluate the meaning of legacy and realize how limited our time is.

    “Legacy is not always just about kids or what you leave behind; it’s about what you accomplish in the time that you have on this earth. At this point in my life, I realized that time is not promised,” said Keys.

    Keys is a former NFL Linebacker. He played for the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Arizona Cardinals in the early 2000s. After football, he did not have a clear plan. Keys explains that he was in a state of desperation and lost. What led to Keys’ struggles after the sport were a few real estate deals that went bad and burned through his money. Keys had less than $100 in 2007.

    In 2009, Keys moved to Los Angeles and worked several different jobs, like private security and youth intervention. He juggled those while taking acting classes. His effort paid off, as he landed roles on TV series such as Supergirl, Lucifer, and The Rookie. His latest role as Diamond Samson on the spin-off series Power Book IV: Force is his biggest project. This life-changing part helped his finances and made him famous to the point where people stop him for pictures wherever he goes. Even though the role improved his circumstances, Keys didn’t feel secure.

    “When I got the call that told me I got the part, I did a Tiger Woods fist bump and yelled in my apartment. Yet, even after they told me I got the role, I still didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it because I’ve been through so much heartbreak. People told me I was going to do this and that throughout my life. I didn’t believe it because I felt  like it could simply be taken away,” said Keys.

    The actor started on the book last year after shooting the final season of Power Book IV. Keys explains that writing the Grind Don’t Stop, It Just Changes made him reflect on his childhood. This experience made him question the fights he had as a kid, how putting on a tough exterior led him to football, and whether he was naive in moments of trust with people. He thought deeply about which experiences made it into the book and how most can learn from it.

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    “I was able to dig deep into these emotions, which can be great conversations to have with young people or adults. The process of writing this book made me think about why we are the way we are and what barriers are keeping us this way,” said Keys.

    Keys wants to use the story of his life to illustrate that reinvention is possible for anyone who has had to survive life-wrecking situations. He wants to share the chapters of his life in hopes of helping someone and relating to those who feel stuck in their own journey. The Grind Don’t Stop, It Just Changes tells the many lives Keys had to live to go from a bankrupt NFL athlete to a Hollywood actor. The memoir will be released in February 2026.

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    Clayton Gutzmore

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

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    With Tommy Egan’s Chicago era drawing to a close, bloodshed is guaranteed: “People need to die on Force for the Power world to keep expanding.”
    Photo: Starz

    As of Friday’s season-three premiere of Power Book IV: Force, Joseph Sikora has been playing volatile drug kingpin Tommy Egan in the Power universe for 12 years. With the final season of Force, he’s wrapping up Tommy’s Chicago era. “I gotta tell you, it’s a mixed bag,” Sikora says, explaining that he’s sad to say good-bye to Chicago but thrilled at the “web of entanglement” Tommy finds himself in this season.

    The premiere episode, “Do or Die,” picks up moments after last season’s finale, when Tommy learns that his criminal rival, Miguel (Manuel Eduardo Ramirez), has kidnapped Tommy’s girlfriend, Mireya (Carmela Zumbado) — who also happens to be Miguel’s sister. Tommy is ready to go to war, but Mireya talks her way free before Tommy arrives. They force a temporary peace until Miguel’s plan to later assassinate the seemingly unkillable Tommy fails. “Do or Die” concludes with Tommy opting against his usually violent nature in favor of playing some kind of long game, confronting associate turned FBI informant Vic (Shane Harper) on his way out of town. Tommy has a new job for Vic: “You’re going to be my inside man in the Feds.”

    For now, everyone has escaped death, but nobody is ever really safe in the Power universe. “In a lot of ways, Tommy reminds me of the gangsters of old, like Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Whitey Bulger, some of these guys who just didn’t die and lived to be old men and were still gangsters,” Sikora says. “Tommy is la cucaracha, he gets low, so he’s gonna live, but that can’t always be the case. At the end of this season, what we’re going to do will allow for the future to happen. People need to die on Force for the Power world to keep expanding.”

    Season two’s cliffhanger ending made it seem like Tommy was on his way to losing his third girlfriend to a violent end. The season-three premiere reveals she survived, but was there a chance Mireya wouldn’t make it, or would that have felt like piling on Tommy too much?
    If we had more seasons, it could have changed things. Mireya had to be who she was at the time. She had to dedicate her life to Tommy and say, “I’m with you, all in.” Then she had to be stolen, because we have to see if Tommy is all in for her. In classic Power fashion, as soon as Tommy got what he wanted, it’s taken away.

    Based on his history, it feels impossible for Tommy to have it all.
    Nobody gets their cake and eats it too. Even with that money, do you think Jeff Bezos is happy all of the time? No way. All these other things create problems. For Tommy, you can’t sell copious amounts of drugs and have no repercussions. You can’t be involved in this gangsterism and just think, Hey, I’m gonna live, and if I do, I’m gonna live happy. Because you’re not. I mean, did Tony Montana teach us nothing?

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

    When Tommy arrives at Miguel’s place and believes Mireya might be dead, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tommy that unhinged or scared — and scared is not a word I’d ever use to describe Tommy. Were you attempting to tap into a type of vulnerability we haven’t seen from him before?
    That was showrunner Gary Lennon’s influence. He was allowing Tommy to be a little bit like Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, when he is out-of-his-mind angry and scared that Stella is gone. This entanglement with Miguel’s gang is so great. Miguel is a worthy adversary for Tommy because Manuel Eduardo Ramirez scares the hell outta me in real life! He’s such an intense actor. It’s a joy to work opposite him.

    In this episode, I saw a lot of Ghost (Omari Hardwick) in Tommy, from his strategic thinking to his selfish treatment of Diamond. What felt right about slightly turning him into someone whom he both loved and hated?
    Ghost once said to Tommy, “We’re two men with one voice, two sides of the same coin.” With Tommy, the audience felt, Oh, he can’t keep up with the strategy that Ghost can. Until we get into Force, where Gary harked back to some of these really interesting things we learned about Ghost and Tommy and said, “Ghost did all this, but let me show you that Tommy can do it too.” If Diamond is now like Tommy was, is that in turn setting up that Diamond is able to do everything that Tommy can? To me, that’s the bigger question. That’s the excitement of the third season, because, no matter how much Diamond’s brother Jenard is pulling him in one way, like with Ghost and Tommy, where do his loyalties ultimately lie?

    Tommy spares Vic’s life in favor of using him for information. This goes back to Tommy’s growth in taking the long view, but do you think he’s being naïve in assuming he can easily manipulate this dangerous situation?
    I think that it’s smart, but if I were a fan, I would hope that Tommy is not overestimating his ability to control — not only Vic but the AUSA Stacy Marks. I hope he’s not underestimating everything that will go into using Vic as a mole. Vic is all these little animals: a mole and a rat! But he’s also dangerous. And shout-out to Shane Harper for playing him so real and investing in being the rat. It takes a lot for a young actor, this handsome fellow, to be like, Oh, I’m gonna be this slimeball character.

    Season three is the conclusion of Tommy’s story, for now, but there’s talk of a new series, Power: Legacy, that will focus on Tommy and his nephew, Tariq. What intrigues you about circling back to the original Power world and that complicated dynamic with Tariq? They didn’t leave things in the best place in the Power Book II: Ghost season-one finale.
    First, Tommy has to survive season three of Force. But Michael Rainey Jr. has done a wonderful job developing the character of Tariq, who is every bit as treacherous and intelligent as his father. And Tommy would be either a worthy adversary or a worthy guide and partner. There can always be forgiveness within a family, regardless of what’s said. I’d love to see what would happen with a reconnection of these two characters. Tariq is now highly educated, has done wetwork, has dealt a lot of illicit narcotics. But Tommy was raised differently. Tommy is a product of the street. It will be interesting to see how they complement each other and what they can learn from each other. There’s innate conflict within that story as much as there is innate love.

    Force is ending, but we’re about to go back to the beginning of Tommy’s criminal enterprise with the Tommy-and-Ghost prequel, Origins. What’s your relationship going to be like with this new series?
    I would like to direct some episodes. I just joined the DGA and directed an episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, so I think I can be active. Someone recently suggested that I be the voice-over on Origins, like 50 is on Kanan. So, Starz, if you’re listening …

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    Derek Lawrence

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