Despite her obvious knack for it—including a critically heralded, Oscar-nominated performance in 2017's Mudbound—musician Mary J. Blige has always been pretty selective about her acting roles. An Umbrella Academy here, a How To Get Away With Murder there, and, of course, a Sherlock Gnomes right smack in the middle—Blige’s resume is dotted with things that simply seemed like they might be interesting to her at the time (or, you know, Sherlock Gnomes). Which might explain why she’s suddenly found herself at the center of a spin-off from Starz’s long-running crime drama Power, titled Ghost.
(Okay, actually, the full title is Power Book II: Ghost, which is both comically Tolkien-y, while also sounding like a diagnosis from the spookiest day ever at the Apple Genius Bar.)
Starz brought Blige out at the TCA press tour today, where she obligingly damned the project with a fairly hilarious bit of faint praise: “This is probably going to be the most exiting thing that will happen to me this year,” she told the crowd. Power is set to end with its upcoming sixth season—dubbed “The Final Betrayal,” which, fair enough—but the title of the spin-off project suggests that Omari Hardwick’s lead character, Ghost, will still be continuing his attempts to stay on top even after said ultimate breach of trust goes down.
Blige, meanwhile, is apparently a fan: “I’ve known so many Tashas, I’ve known so many Ghosts. I’ve dated so many Ghosts,” she told the crowd. “I’m a huge fan for life, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”