Courtney Kemp on why 50 Cent decided to make Anika Noni Rose's character a lesbian in Power season 3

Power season 3 just revealed a badass cop LaVerne "Jukebox" Thomas — played by Anika Noni Rose. Her addition will add more drama to the already complex story of James "Ghost" St Patrick (Omari Hardwick) and his fierce rivalry with Kanan (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson).

The introduction of Jukebox in episode 3 was nothing less than a shock for fans as she foils a robbery in a drugstore and openly kills both the robber and the clueless clerk. The police officer then returns to her home to a waiting girlfriend and an injured Kanan trying to recover from the injuries inflicted upon him after his scuffle with Ghost in the season 2 finale.

Showrunner Courtney Kemp explains that Jukebox was never meant to be a good police officer and is paying back the favour 50 Cent's character did for her. The injured drug lord gave her shelter after her father threw her out after learning that she is a lesbian woman. The showrunner also clarified that 50 Cent wanted to portray her as a homosexual person.

"Jukebox is not a good cop. When 50 and I first started talking about Jukebox, in some small way she's based on his mom. He grew up in a household with a woman who slept with other women. So we took her sexuality from there. For him, he doesn't see [being gay] in that way you'd assume," she told TV Guide.

Meanwhile, James is more worried about Tommy and Lobos and planning his moves around them but remains largely ignorant that his arch nemesis Kanan is alive and desperate to avenge his defeat.

"We wanted to remind the audience that Ghost (Omari Hardwick) thinks Kanan is dead," Kemp told the website. "So we wanted the audience to have that same experience. Not that they would think Kanan is dead, but so they would know something that Ghost didn't know. We allowed the world to get resettled and rebooted."

Power season 3 episode 4 will be important from James's point of view as he is set to face his enemies while his personal life degenerates into chaos. The next episode will air on 7 August on Starz network.