Warning! Major spoilers ahead for Power’s Season 6, Episode 8, “Deal With the Devil.”
They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but Starz’s Power suggests that your friends can turn into your worst enemies, and everyone wants to kill you at some point. Power proved that yet again in Season 6 with the episode “Deal With the Devil,” which featured Tasha (Naturi Naughton) shockingly gunning down and killing La La Anthony’s LaKeisha.
La La Anthony spoke up about her character’s death, and though no actor loves it when their character is killed off a show, Anthony says that LaKeisha’s fate was to be expected given her journey so far. In her words:
I wasn’t as surprised as you would think. I knew the way the story was playing out that Tommy actually loved LaKeisha in a different way, and there were such strong feelings and he finally felt like he found the one, that it never occurred to me that it would be him. I think that’s more the easy answer because of what he did to Holly [Lucy Walters]. The only other logical person outside of maybe Ghost would be Tasha, and it goes back really to the demise of their entire friendship. So many people who watch the show say they can relate to that, someone you’ve been friends with your whole life and suddenly something happens and you fall out and can never recover from that. Now, I don’t know anybody who’s killing their old best friend, but I’m just saying that we all have incidents with people we were so close with and grew apart from over time, and it’s sad to watch.
It is sad because LaKeisha and Tasha used to be good friends. Although Tasha shooting LaKeisha in the stomach was an accident, Tasha felt she had no choice but to finish the job. LaKeisha put up a fight though, begging Tasha to spare her because of her son. It was clear that Tasha didn’t feel such a strong sense of friendship anymore because she pondered whether or not to kill LaKeisha, but only for a second before pulling the trigger.
LaKeisha’s death was definitely shocking for fans, just as other deaths have been, just as other deaths have been. While viewers might think that a character is safe after being on the show for six seasons, Power keeps things exciting by not sticking to the formula. No one is really safe. Look no further than Joe Proctor, who was killed off a few weeks ago. If nothing else, LaKeisha’s death proved that old friendships mean nothing.
When asked by EW how she discovered that LaKeisha was meeting her doom in the final season, the actress said that she was given the rundown about her character’s fate by Power showrunner Courtney Kemp.
It’s definitely not a conversation any of us want to have. I mean, that’s our family, we’ve been on the show for so long, but you understand the nature of the kind of show you’re on, and that things have to happen to keep the story interesting and moving forward. Courtney just talked me through the whole thing and explained why and told me how it would happen. She was extremely gracious in making me feel comfortable and making me understand from a writer’s perspective, like why it had to happen. My thing is, I could have just died off the show in a lackluster way and no one even cares or talks about it, but I think this will be a moment that will be talked about for a long time. So if you’re going to go out, that’s how you want to go out.
LaKeisha definitely went out with a bang, though, and while many fans certainly hated her character and wanted her gone from Power, La La Anthony hopes that the character’s permanent demise will make fans miss her. After all, distance (and death) makes the heart grow fonder, even for cable dramas.
Power Season 6 airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz. For all your TV watching needs, be sure to check out our complete list of every new and returning show premiering this fall.
