How Does Cooper Saxe Die in Power Book 2?

If there’s one factor “Power Book II: Ghost” has confirmed in season three, it is that no person’s secure — not even unique characters who survived the spinoff’s guardian collection. In a somewhat stunning and utterly sudden flip of occasions, the Starz collection has achieved away with a personality that viewers have been ready nearly a decade to see meet his downfall: Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson).

For years, Saxe has miraculously discovered methods to flee a lot of shut calls — together with nearly getting strangled to dying by Ghost (Omari Hardwick) and Tommy (Joseph Sikora) in “Power” — however his conniving methods have lastly caught as much as him in a deadly conclusion, as with most “Power” antagonists.

After six seasons of “Power” and three installments of “Power Book II,” it is practically unattainable to record all of the dust Saxe has achieved via the years. In the unique collection, his relentless hunt to reveal Ghost and his drug enterprise practically drove him to an early grave. He even thought of killing Ghost, although the latter’s son Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.) beat Saxe to the punch. In “Power Book II,” Saxe’s hate for Ghost transfers over to Tariq as he groups up with ADA Jenny Sullivan (Paton Ashbrook) — whom he had a quick relationship with — to help a RICO case she and the feds have been engaged on. But this time round, Saxe’s twisted agenda of in search of justice by any means obligatory turns him right into a rat — aka a felony informant.

If there’s one factor “Power” followers know, rats in the present by no means stick round too lengthy. From working as a double agent behind his associate Davis MacClean’s (Method Man) again to feeding Jenny data on Tariq and his crime circle, Saxe was all the time taking part in a harmful sport by getting too near the flames. And in episode eight of “Power Book II,” “Sacrifice,” he in the end will get burned.

So, how precisely does Saxe meet his demise in “Power Book II”? Read forward for a breakdown of his ultimate moments in the present, and see what Johnson tells POPSUGAR about his character’s lengthy overdue exit.

How Does Saxe Die in “Power Book II: Ghost” Season 3?

If “Power Book II” viewers can recall, Saxe performed a giant half in serving to Davis get his dying brother, Theo (Jordan Mahome), an early launch from jail. Of course, Saxe’s beneficiant (and unlawful) favor served as a approach to get near Davis so he may implicate the protection legal professional in Tariq and the Tejadas’ drug ring, as Davis represents all of them. But this later comes again to chunk Saxe as soon as he is uncovered to Davis because the CI who’s been serving to Jenny’s RICO case.

Halfway via the episode, Davis informs Theo that Saxe has been working in opposition to him as a CI. This additionally complicates issues for the 2 brothers as a result of any rift with Saxe may threaten to ship Theo again to jail. Theo then decides to take issues into his personal palms and kidnaps Saxe, proper after the latter’s cowl as a CI is blown on account of the RICO case falling aside.

While assembly with Tariq in his workplace, Davis catches wind of what Theo is as much as with Saxe and rushes to achieve them earlier than his brother does one thing they will all remorse. However, Davis and Tariq are a lot too late once they lastly catch as much as Saxe and Theo, as they discover the latter strolling Saxe close to the sting of a pier with a gun pointed at his again. Theo then informs Davis, “This traitor gotta go lil brother,” earlier than providing himself up because the “perfect” individual to ship Saxe to his dying. Despite pleas from Davis and Tariq, Theo does the unthinkable and shoots Saxe in his again. The stunning slo-mo second of Saxe falling to his dying is punctuated by Theo then taking his personal gun and capturing himself in the pinnacle — a second “Power Book II” followers positively did not see coming.

Shane Johnson on His “Power Book II: Ghost” Exit in Season 3

According to Johnson, who was a part of the Power Universe for roughly a decade, he did not find out about Saxe getting killed off the present till it got here time to movie episode six and he pulled showrunner Brett Mahoney apart to debate his character’s arc. “I said, ‘So listen, it kind of feels like Cooper Saxe is doing some stuff a little bit, like, much . . . Does Cooper Saxe make it out of the season?” the actor remembers asking, including that Mahoney solely shot him a understanding look. “That’s when I found out.”

Of filming his ultimate scene as Saxe, which Johnson shares was filmed over a 12 months in the past, the “Power Book II” star says “it was gut-wrenching.” “It’s just been such a culmination of so many years of the show,” he provides. “[Creator] Courtney [Kemp] was there and that was incredible to have her there because she obviously started this whole thing.” Johnson additionally says that his final scene was “really emotional” as he is “come to really love working with Method Man” and “Michael Rainey.” “It’s just been such a blessing so to have it ending was surreal . . . To have it come to a finality was definitely painful,” he provides.

The destiny of Johnson’s character was not like something any “Power” fan may’ve imagined. The actor notes he too was shocked when it got here time to finish his character’s arc. “If I’m being real, I know that Cooper Saxe wasn’t going to survive forever,” Johnson admits, including that Saxe’s “desperation” for a win this season made him get “sloppy.” “Did I think it was going to be some random guy who was Method Man’s [Davis’s] brother that got out of prison? No, but it was going to be somebody.”

Johnson had a number of alternate endings in thoughts for Saxe, sharing that he thought “it was going to be Tommy” to kill his character. “After Tommy, I would’ve thought it was going to be Tariq; maybe Tasha,” he provides. Johnson additionally instructed it “would’ve been cool to see if Method Man felt like he was in a position where Davis had to kill him,” including, “And then Davis turns to Tariq and says, ‘Dude, I did this sh*t. How do I deal with it?’ And he’s gotta deal with a body and make this thing go away. That, to me, was kind of what was going to happen, so I was definitely surprised but I knew it was going to happen.”

Looking again on his Power Universe tenure, Johnson assures that he is pleased with the work he is achieved, although he is effectively conscious of viewers’ disdain for Saxe. “It’s so close to my heart because this show has been such a huge part of my life,” he shares of his time on “Power” and its spinoff. “This is the longest job I’ve ever had — the longest most actors ever have. Most people don’t get to be on a show for 10 years. My kids were 2 and 5 years old when I started this show, and they’re 13 and 16 now, so it really puts things into perspective. Like my family grew up on this show and it’s been such an incredible blessing, and I’m so thankful for it.”

He continues, “I’m so indebted to Courtney and [executive producer] 50 [Cent] and Starz for keeping me around. I feel really, really, really grateful for this show and the trajectory that Cooper Saxe has been on.”

New episodes of “Power Book II: Ghost” air on Fridays.