Joey Bada$$: It’s ‘dope to see’ the love for his ‘Raising Kanan’ character after near-death season 3 experience

Joey Bada$$: It’s ‘dope to see’ the love for his ‘Raising Kanan’ character after near-death season 3 experience
Starz

Joey Bada$$ is back on Power Book III: Raising Kanan, though his character, Unique, was nearly killed off in the show’s third season.

A fan-favorite on the cast, he tells ABC Audio it was “actually dope to see how much love and appreciation people have for the character in the event of his ‘demise.’ But it was also cool to see how people felt when they found out, ‘Oh, s***, he’s actually not gone,’ too.”

As seen in the first two episodes of season 4, Unique survived with the help of an under-the-radar doctor, who warned his injuries could lead to personality changes if he didn’t receive professional help. Those changes are coupled with his desire to seek vengeance against Raq and all those who he felt had conspired against him.

Joey says it’s different than the vengeance Unique’s brother sought in season 3 because Ronnie had “more of, like, a social disorder.” While he notes that they had similarities in their anger and frustration, he says Unique was previously “able to contain that and use it to his advantage and, like, be smart about it.”

“I think now with the brain injury he’s way more prone to flying off the handle,” Joey adds. That showed up when Unique killed Raq’s lawyer after secretly seeing the two and assuming they were together. When asked whether any of that had to do with Unique loving Raq, Joey says, “There’s a lot of conflicting ideas, thoughts and emotions going on in his head, but I think they’re all scrambled because of the brain injury.”

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