American actor Michael Rainey Jr is certainly earning his acting chops after he took on the lead in Power Book II: Ghost. The show saw him reprising his role as Tariq St Patrick from the global smash hit Starz series Power. Rainey Jr was previously a supporting cast member with Omari Hardwick leading as his onscreen father James “Ghost” St Patrick.
What is Michael Rainey Jr’s salary for Power Book 2?
Sadly, Ghost was slain by Tariq in a misguided move to protect his mother Tasha St Patrick (Naturi Naughton).
Although Tariq attracted much fan anger from murdering his own father and many questioning the teen’s choice throughout Power, the tide slowly seems to be turning in his favour in Book II: Ghost.
He is slowly gaining more sympathy as the college student finds himself in a tight bind with few allies in his corner.
Tariq is the new protagonist of Power as he seems to become more like his father than he could ever have anticipated.
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Up-and-coming actor Rainey Jr has admitted he was surprised when he first found out he would be leading the first spin-off series from the Power franchise – no easy feat for the young star, who took it in his stride.
Speaking to Ash London Live earlier this year, Rainey Jr said: “It was insane.
“We were in the middle of filming season six, I forgot which episode it was, but [producer] 50 Cent had just shown up on set one day.
“He was just there talking to everybody and then he stepped to me and brought me to the side and we were talking.
“He was like, ‘You know soon [you] got this done, you’re gonna be the lead of your own show.’”
Understandably, Rainey Jr was slightly sceptical when the Power producer told him this news, responding: “I was like, ‘All right, whatever.’”
The star continued: “Like a week or two after that [Power creator] Courtney [Kemp] had told me, ‘You know, after the show is going to be about you.’
“And I was like, ‘Oh, so 50 wasn’t playing around. Like this is real.’
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“So once Courtney told me, it’s definitely like settled in in a whole different way.
“It got real for me, like, ‘Damn, this is going to be a whole new responsibility. A whole new ballgame for me.’ It was fun.”
Now Rainey Jr. has been promoted to the lead, his pay packet is likely to have increased substantially to match his prominence in the series.
According to a report from The Blast in 2018, Rainey Jr got a raise and was paid double what he previously earned from the series.
The publication states he was previously making an estimated £14,900 ($20,000) per episode in season one of Power.
In his original deal, it was suggested he would get a four percent increase each year for the following seasons he appeared in.
But a 2018 deal apparently saw his salary pushed up to an estimated £33,700 ($45,000) for each episode going forward.
Since becoming the lead of Power Book II: Ghost, this figure is likely to have increased further.
With Book II: Ghost getting an early renewal from Starz, Rainey Jr’s pay cheque could well have gone up again.
Power Book II: Ghost will be returning to Starz and Starzplay via Amazon Prime Video on December 6