50 Cent says new London crime thriller Fightland is ‘a level above’ his biggest TV hit

My first memory of 50 Cent stems back to 2003 when I was nine years old, watching him hang upside down as he rapped the opening bars of In Da Club, a bona fide noughties classic.

So to speak to him face to face about his new TV thriller Fightland, a boxing crime drama set in London that’s launching on Sky, was surreal.

‘I wanted to turn it up a notch. To take it to the UK is to take it to the next level,’ the musician, who produces the high-octane series, told Metro. 

‘The passion that I feel from the people there – it’s a little different from New York. London embraces it in a different way. That would logically be the next spot that I do something in following New York City. It’s just one of the coolest places on the planet.’

Seven years after his critically acclaimed drama Power ended, Fightland follows Maduka ‘Duke’ Kilroy (Howard Charles), a heavyweight boxing champion who’s sent to jail following the devastating death of his brother.

After eight years behind bars, Duke returns to London to seek revenge against crime kingpin Kingsley Marshall (Nicholas Pinnock), who he believes betrayed him.

In the lead-up to Fightland’s release, 50 – real name Curtis Jackson – claimed that it’s going to be even better than Power, a show that diehard fans have declared one of the best ever made. So is he still sticking to his word?

‘Look, I got Howard Charles, I got Nicholas Pinnock. For me, these guys are a different level of acting,’ answered the 51-year-old, who also produced a Netflix docu-series about Diddy.

‘I can appreciate it because I’m seeing things that the public is not seeing,’ he continued. ‘This is why it feels like a level above what we did with Power in the very beginning. It took three seasons for Power to start to connect and get that momentum. With this, I believe the first episode you’re gonna see in a premiere, higher than the other stuff, just out the gate.’

Playing the lead role in a drama as huge as this feels like it’s been a long time coming for Howard. I know him best from his BBC series The Musketeers, in which he played Porthos from 2014 until 2016. He also starred as the co-lead of British crime drama Whitstable Pearl. But Fightland feels like a whole different ballgame.

‘It feels like destiny in many ways. The perfect role for me, and one that I was ready for, and have been ready for,’ Howard told Metro. 

‘A very rich character, full of complexity, and allows me to travel some distance over that line, which is what I’m all about.’

Delving into the character of Duke was as physical as it was mental. Howard explained that he was already in ‘really good shape’ when his preparations began, but he also had to put on weight for the role, and only had two weeks to get ready before principal photography began.

‘I think before I needed to do the fight scenes it might have been four weeks, but I didn’t have very long, and I put on about 15 pounds in the end, so I could become a bona fide heavyweight, which is really important to me. We did it in a smart way, in a controlled way, and I put on a little bit of muscle, but I had to just eat a lot more, lift a bit heavier. But it was great. It was intense.’

While Duke’s circumstances are unique, returning to his hometown after almost a decade in prison, Howard felt as though he could understand the character’s ‘pain and rage’ after suffering such a huge loss.

‘I know what it is to have things taken from me, and I know what it is to want to avenge certain things. So I was bringing a level of understanding to Duke to begin with,’ the 42-year-old said.

‘Duke demanded that I go further into the deepest and the darkest parts of the human heart. I went to that place and I learned a lot in the process about me, about Duke, about what happens to us when we lose everything we care about, what we become, and if there’s a way back to the light.’

Sparring metaphorically opposite Duke in Fightland is Kingsley. The man has a menacing presence, delivering cutthroat lines with a sinister smile that’ll send shivers down your spine.

‘He speaks in a very specific patter and cadence,’ actor Nicholas outlined, explaining how he took inspiration from Steve Jobs’ wardrobe because Kingsley ‘is kind of a genius’.

‘I’ve never played a character that’s had that much cynicism and sinisterness and evil, if you like. He’s the villain of the piece.’

When viewers start watching Fightland, they’re thrown straight into the deep end with some complex relationships, including Duke’s connection with Joy Marshall (Deborah Ayorinde), Kingsley’s wife, and his fractured history with his dad, Gary ‘Gazzer’ Kilroy (Richard Pepple).

‘I’ve known Howard for about 15 years. We worked together many years ago, and it was easy for us to get together and throw ideas at each other and build a backstory that felt very tangible and very real to the two of us,’ Richard told Metro.

‘That was based on both our experiences as sons. We had a lot to draw on that were similarities. Anyone who has a personal relationship with their dad will be able to identify a lot of those things.’

Joy is someone who’s known Howard for many years. She’s ‘complicated’, actress Deborah told us. ‘She is not the hero. She might be the villain in some moments,’ she said.

‘I really hope that people can watch Joy and not judge her. I want her to cause them to look inward. That’s what she did for me. I couldn’t play her if I felt judgmental of her.’

The depiction of London in Fightland feels real – and in the opinion of actor Charles Babalola, who plays Kingsley’s son Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Marshall, it’s a ‘cultural moment’.

‘It’s 50 Cent bringing his universe, but not an American universe, a London universe. It’s an American-backed and American-produced show about London, an authentic telling of the underworld and boxing in London. So it’s like these two worlds coming together, and it’s not been done in a way,’ he said.

His co-star Anita-Joy Uwajeh, who stars as his on-screen sister Cebella ‘Cece’ Marshall, agreed. ‘Charles and I are both Londoners. There is something really exciting as an actor when you book a job that gets to film in your home city where you’ve been born and bred.’

Fightland premieres on Thursday August 27 on Sky and NOW.