The Power Book IV: Force series finale does something rare for a long-running crime saga. “Beginning of the End,” the Season 3, Episode 10 closer, gives Tommy Egan a win, keeps him alive, and still somehow feels unfinished. Airing on Jan. 16, 2026, the final chapter of the Starz spinoff wraps up Tommy’s reign over Chicago while setting the board for the wider Power universe to expand again.
Across three seasons — and after six seasons of the original Power plus Power Book II: Ghost — Tommy has gone from loyal right-hand man to undisputed kingpin. In a retrospective published on January 20, 2026, critic Brittany Frederick argues that Power Book IV: Force was the spinoff that Tommy Egan deserved
, one that “cracked new levels” of Joseph Sikora’s already complex antihero on TVBrittanyF.com.
The finale brings Tommy’s Chicago story full circle: he consolidates power after devastating losses, reconnects with Tariq St. Patrick on a rooftop, and then stares down the biggest decision of his life — rule the Windy City or go back to New York and “start some new s—.” From here, Tommy’s legacy could stretch into confirmed prequel Power: Origins and the still-developing Power: Legacy, keeping the door wide open for yet another chapter.
How the Power Book IV: Force series finale reshapes Tommy Egan’s legacy
To understand where Tommy lands in the series finale, you have to go back to the beginning. Power creator Courtney A. Kemp first set up Tommy as the brash counterweight to James “Ghost” St. Patrick, played by Omari Hardwick. In that original series, Ghost lived a double life as nightclub owner and drug lord, while Tommy embodied the genre stereotype of the loud, violent enforcer — the guy literally “torturing someone in a back space” until Ghost walked in to clean it up.
Frederick contrasts Ghost’s authentic duality with a more conventional TV villain like Eric Mabius’ Jack Nesbitt on Chicago Fire, a club owner using his business as a front until he is brought down by Jesse Spencer’s firefighter Matthew Casey. That comparison underscores how unusual Ghost and Tommy’s dynamic was: two fully realized men, not just crime-story archetypes.
Over six seasons of Power, Tommy even inspired an episode called “Why Is Tommy Still Alive?”, a nod to how disruptive he was. Yet he remained “in second position,” the friend, foil and ride-or-die. Power Book IV: Force exists to answer Frederick’s blunt question: “What the hell was Tommy Egan’s story, when Ghost wasn’t there anymore?”
The Chicago-set spinoff relocates Tommy to a new city and rewires his priorities. Power Book IV: Force explores him through family — both blood and chosen. We meet his brother JP Gibbs, played by Anthony Fleming, and watch him build an empire with South Side player Diamond Sampson, portrayed by Isaac Keys. Across three seasons and three different shows, this version of Tommy is tougher and more emotionally honest, someone who “could be both intimidating to an audience and someone that they connected with,” as Frederick puts it.
By Season 3, showrunner Gary Lennon is actively stress-testing that growth. Frederick notes how Lennon, who has written Tommy since Season 2 of Power, “used Season 3 to test Tommy’s growth and peel his character back to the bone.” The writers strip away nearly everyone Tommy loves: Claudia Flynn dies, JP is killed in what feels “like losing half of Tommy,” and Diamond is ultimately taken out by a bullet meant for his brother, Jenard.
Yet Tommy survives. In People’s detailed ending breakdown, writer Emily Blackwood lays out the finale’s central maneuver: after Diamond’s death, Tommy and cartel ally Miguel (Manuel Eduardo Ramirez) use intel on Jenard Sampson’s hideout to plan an ambush. Miguel is shot in the leg, but Tommy’s tactics flip Jenard’s own crew to his side, cementing him as Chicago’s new kingpin on Jan. 16, 2026.
Long before the finale, Sikora warned viewers not to get comfortable. As Blackwood reminds readers, he once told Entertainment Weekly in a February 2022 conversation that Tommy could die at any moment
. Instead, that moment never comes. Blackwood now notes of the last episode that Tommy made it out alive by the series finale
, even as his list of enemies grows.
On the character level, Frederick sees the final rooftop scene with Tariq as a fitting punctuation mark rather than a full stop. She concedes there is “an element to the open-endedness of the finale that is frustrating,” but concludes that we definitely haven’t seen the last of Tommy Egan
. Tommy cannot retire to a beach with a margarita — Frederick jokes that “that should have been Vic Flynn” — because his scars and losses keep him tethered to the life that made him.
Cast and character breakdown: who makes it out of Chicago
The finale pulls together faces from across the Power franchise, and each major player’s fate says something about where the universe is headed.
- Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora, 49) – The Chicago drug lord at the center of Power Book IV: Force. Over three seasons, he has been the show’s emotional core, and in the final battle, he survives assassination attempts, outmaneuvers rivals, and emerges as “King of Chicago.” Sikora, who first originated the role in 2014, tells People that saying goodbye is
bittersweet
but adds,I remain cautiously optimistic of another chapter of Tommy
. - Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr., 25) – Ghost’s son, who has carried Power Book II: Ghost and returns in a crucial crossover. In the finale, he arrives in Chicago to help Tommy win the war with Jenard. Rainey previously said he “would love to see Tariq back on the screen,” and here he crowns his mentor the “King of Chicago” before suggesting they head back to New York to
start some new s—
. - Diamond Sampson (Isaac Keys) – Tommy’s main partner in building the Chicago empire. His death, from a bullet meant for Jenard, happens before the finale but casts a shadow over it. Blackwood notes that “following the tragic death of Diamond, tensions between Tommy and Jenard are higher than ever,” and Frederick frames Diamond as a second-chance version of Ghost, a brother-figure Tommy loses for a second time.
- Jenard Sampson (Kris D. Lofton) – Diamond’s reckless brother and Tommy’s rival. In The TV Cave’s recap by writer Rachel, the finale shows Jenard’s crew defecting after Tommy’s ambush, but he refuses to surrender. Instead, he forms an alliance with Vic Flynn, and the two men “vow to someday take him down together,” keeping a long-term threat alive.
- Vic Flynn (Shane Harper) – The surviving member of the Flynn crime family. After going into hiding, he re-enters the fight once he hears about Diamond’s death and partners with Jenard. Frederick half-jokes that Vic is the one who should have wound up “on a beach somewhere sipping a margarita,” a reminder that no one in this universe gets an easy exit.
- Mireya Garcia (Carmela Zumbado) – Tommy’s girlfriend and the mother of his unborn child. Her exit is the finale’s biggest emotional swing. She leaves a letter telling Tommy she has left town to be with her family so he can finish his war without worrying about her safety. Lennon explained to TV Line that he wanted Mireya’s final move to feel like “a boss move,” insisting that having Tommy force her out of town would “take away all of her agency.”
- Miguel Garcia (Manuel Eduardo Ramirez / Manuel Ramirez) – Mireya’s brother and Tommy’s uneasy cartel partner. During the climactic ambush, he is “shot in the leg,” but survives and witnesses Tommy finally take control of Chicago.
- Che (Sammy Publes) – Another key player in the Chicago drug game who appears in the finale’s battle lines alongside Miguel and Tommy.
- Cruz (Alex Livinalli) – Seen in finale images standing with Miguel and Tommy as they secure control of their new empire.
- JP Gibbs (Anthony Fleming) – Tommy’s brother, whose death earlier in Season 3 hits harder than many of the show’s body blows. Frederick describes JP as Tommy’s “anchor” and says that losing him is like losing “half of Tommy.”
- Claudia Flynn – Killed during Season 3, her death opens a path for Tommy to move up, even as it underscores the cost of his ambition.
- Ghost / James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) – Physically absent but spiritually everywhere. In one of the finale’s most discussed beats, Tommy takes a mysterious phone call before Tariq arrives. Sikora admits he briefly hoped the caller might be his old partner, telling People,
My only other thing was, ‘Hey, is there any way that Ghost is still alive?’
Even as he acknowledges that Courtney A. Kemp has said no, he points out that fans “didn’t see the body,” keeping the theory alive in viewers’ minds.
These faces don’t just tie up Force’s storylines; they knit the finale into the sprawling tapestry of the Power universe and make clear that Tommy’s story is not meant to stand alone.
Mireya, family, and the human cost of Tommy’s empire
Power Book IV: Force – Season 3 (Joseph Sikora)
Family has always been Tommy’s soft spot. In Power, his loyalty to Ghost and complicated dynamic with Tasha and Angela humanized him. In Power Book IV: Force, that theme intensifies through JP, Mireya, Miguel, and even the surrogate brotherhood with Diamond.
Frederick argues that Power Book IV: Force is “as much a family story as it was a gangster drama,” and points to Season 3 as “almost perfect” in the way it balances Tommy’s search for connection with the brutal math of the drug game. Each death — JP’s, Claudia’s, Diamond’s — is less about shock value and more about testing how Tommy responds now compared with how he reacted when he lost Ghost.
Mireya becomes the proof that he has changed. In Emily Blackwood’s breakdown, the question “Are Tommy and Mireya still together?” has no definitive answer. The finale shows Tommy finding her note and assuming she has gone to Mexico, but her exact destination is never confirmed. Lennon tells TV Line that he wanted a resolution that let Mireya make her own choice, calling it “a boss move” and praising the way Sikora plays the moment as he reads the letter “full of emotion.”
Frederick notes that Tommy will “never be on a beach somewhere sipping a margarita,” but insists his legacy is more than “how much product he moves.” It lies in the lives he touches, especially Mireya’s and their child’s, and in how he eventually stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Tariq the way he once did with Ghost. Even if Tommy never finds peace, the finale shows he is no longer just the brash guy in the back room; he is a man whose choices are shaped by grief, hope, and a genuine desire to build something that will outlast him.
What comes next: Power: Origins, Power: Legacy, and Tommy’s future
Even as Force ends, the franchise is already looking ahead. In March 2024, a prequel titled Power: Origins was officially greenlit to explore the younger years of Tommy and Ghost. Blackwood and People’s reporting confirm that Charlie Mann has been cast as young Tommy, and Spence Moore II will play young Ghost. Sikora jokes, I’m glad they cast somebody better looking than me for me
, and calls Tommy “an interestingly calibrated character,” saying he “can’t wait to see what Charlie does with him.” He also likens Origins to a “fun evolution” of fellow prequel Raising Kanan, and notes that director Pete Chapman, the producing director on Origins, has been keeping him updated on the new series.
Beyond Origins, the next likely destination is New York. The TV Cave’s recap underlines how the finale brings the Chicago storyline to a close while setting up the next chapters
, pointing directly to projects like Power: Legacy. The site notes that announcements for Origins and Legacy “provide viewers with a roadmap for upcoming content,” closing with Tommy in control of Chicago and Tariq at his side while new narrative threads hang in the air.
Behind the scenes, Lennon has repeatedly made it clear he is not finished. In interviews cited by People, he says he does not feel “done writing Tommy Egan’s character” and that “there’s so much more to tell.” Deadline reported in June 2025 that a writers’ room for Power: Legacy was expected to open soon, and Lennon admits that his “fantasy” is to develop a big-screen Tommy movie. Sikora adds that he and Lennon are already “in the process of writing it,” but concedes that “whether it gets made, only time will tell.”
For Sikora, the finale is less goodbye than pivot point. In an exclusive conversation with People TV writer Julia Moore, he calls the end of Force “bittersweet” and reflects, “I wish there was a fourth season, because I feel like we really got our footing [with season 3].” At the same time, he leans into the possibility of more, telling Moore, As long as Gary Lennon is writing Tommy, I’d love to keep playing him
. He even imagines a show built around Tommy and Rainey’s Tariq together.
Moore notes that Sikora considers the rooftop decision with Tariq the “next chapter,” whether cameras ever roll or not: in his mind, Tommy does go back to New York. That mental continuity matters because Power Book IV: Force is now streaming on the Starz app as Chapter Two of Tommy’s life, with Origins poised to become Chapter Zero and any version of Legacy stepping in as Chapter Three.
Why the Power Book IV: Force series finale still matters
From a broader TV perspective, the Power Book IV: Force series finale reinforces something that is easy to forget in an age of disposable spinoffs. Frederick, a Tomatometer-certified critic with 1.5 million+ monthly readers, argues that Tommy “cracked the gangster stereotype,” becoming “incredibly human” over more than a decade on screen. The finale doesn’t give him closure so much as it graduates him from someone else’s sidekick into the engine of an ongoing saga.
Rachel’s recap at The TV Cave, a piece labeled a “2 min read” and tagged under both Recaps and Reviews, emphasizes how “Beginning of the End” closes out the Chicago arc and sets up “new storylines that extend beyond Chicago.” The site even invites readers to rate the episode, though the widget currently shows it as “Rated NaN out of 5 stars” because no one has scored it yet — a funny glitch for an episode that clearly hit its mark with the creative team.
As for the audience, Force’s finale is less about tying everything off and more about positioning Tommy and Tariq at a crossroads. Analysis-wise, that may be the smartest move the franchise could make. If Power: Origins delivers on its March 2024 promise and Power: Legacy fulfills its June 2025 writers’ room tease, Tommy’s rooftop “hell yeah” could end up being one of the most important decisions in the entire Power canon.
Until then, the power book iv force series finale stands as a rare case of a crime drama letting its antihero live, evolve, and keep moving — a testament to Sikora’s performance, Lennon’s writing, and a universe that, as Rainey once put it, “never ends.”
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