As the penultimate episode of Power Book II: Ghost airs, Gianni Paolo is reflecting on Brayden Weston’s journey from spoiled rich kid to Tariq’s gun-toting, crime-committing confidant.
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Dedicated Power watchers know that Brayden completely left behind his prep school roots to be Tariq St. Patrick’s partner in crime (literally), who helps him navigate the underworld where crooked cops like Carter and drug bosses like Noma reside.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
According to Gianni Paolo, digging into Brayden’s complexities has made the role especially fulfilling.
“The cool thing about Brayden was he was funny, but he also had to navigate tough situations—his dad, and obviously killing his uncle,” he told BOSSIP’s Managing Editor Dani Canada. “So, as an actor, it was so fun to find those funny moments even in the darkest episodes.”
One of his favorite parts about playing Brayden was getting to dive into intense, dramatic scenes.
“I loved going to the trap house with Cane and throwing my uncle off a roof. That was so wild,” said Gianni. “I always joke that with the way I look, I should’ve been on Riverdale, but instead, I get to sell drugs on 50 Cent’s show. It’s just a blessing. Every episode, every scene, every moment—even when Brayden’s on the back burner, I was always happy and grateful to be a part of this universe.”
As Brayden becomes darker, comparisons to the legendary Tommy Egan from the original Power series have surfaced among fans, most recently when Brayden killed his girlfriend’s dealer for selling her bad drugs.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Gianni finds the parallels between Brayden and Tommy flattering but acknowledges that there’s a stark contrast between them.
“It’s definitely a compliment,” he acknowledged. “What Joseph [Sikora] did with Tommy was amazing—he has his own show now. Brayden is like Tariq’s Tommy for sure, his right hand.”
“Brayden grew up with money and a connected family, whereas Tommy grew up in the hood with Ghost. It’s a different upbringing, but I like the comparisons. I think it’s cool, and this season Brayden gets even darker, so those comparisons will keep coming.”
One of Brayden’s defining moments this season was that aforementioned moment when he killed a drug dealer for his girlfriend, Elle, only to get dumped shortly after. “Come on, girl, this is for you!” Gianni laughed about Brayden’s actions before acknowledging that there will be consequences as Brayden continues to become “more reckless.”
“Brayden’s doing crazy stuff, and he kind of needs to tone it down because it’s getting in the way of the business. You’ll see some fallout from that, but the big focus is on how we deal with Carter and how everything wraps up,” he told BOSSIP.
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“It shows a different side of Brayden, a more reckless, careless side—kind of like Tommy when Holly died, and he didn’t care if he lived or died. That’s when someone becomes the most dangerous.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Gianni dished to BOSSIP about one of the highlights of the show; the copious nicknames that Cane Tejada (Woody McClain) has given Brayden.
“I forgot he called me Charlie Sheen a couple episodes ago—that was so funny,” Gianni recalled to BOSSIP. “I’m actually friends with Machine Gun Kelly, so when Cane called me that on the show, I sent the clip to him, and he was dying laughing. He also called me Taylor Swift and some other wild names. It’s funny because Tommy called me Bieber in the original Power, but that scene got cut. And I think that was the start of it all.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
He continued,
“Even though it never wound up making it [to TV], the writers knew what they wanted to do. And I feel like in Power, we bring up a lot of current things. And it’s not always written. Obviously, when the YSL trial was going on and still is going on, we had a scene that originally said Gambino Crime Family. So I was like, ‘No, we got to change this to YSL RICO,’ and that went crazy on social media. So I think the writers do a good job, but also us as the actors are like, let’s keep it current because every time we do something like that, it goes crazy on Twitter. And that’s just good for the show.”
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Watch our exclusive with Gianni Paolo!