In a surprising number of ways, Luke Cage‘s first season was as much about Alfre Woodard’s Harlem councilwoman-turned-gangster Mariah Dillard as it was about Mike Colter’s Luke. As Luke came out of the shadows, Mariah slipped into them, becoming a complicated and dangerous villain. And it appears in season two of Luke Cage, she’ll become even moreso.
The trailer mostly focuses on Mariah, who since the end of season one has tightened her grip on Harlem and its gun-running operations. It turns out Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir), who we’ve mostly seen beating on Luke to this point, is also not a big fan of Mariah, which is kind of a problem since he’s just as strong and bulletproof as Luke and has some moves as opposed to Luke’s “smack fu.” Interestingly, Shades (Theo Rossi) also plays a role in this trailer: It appears his affection for Mariah is sincere. Hey, if two gangsters can’t make it work, who can?
There’s a lot more going on than just gang wars, of course. We’ve seen Misty Knight and Colleen Wing team up, and there’s also Annabella Sciorra in the mix as a Brooklyn crime lord with her sights on Harlem. And maybe Luke will beat up Danny Rand again, because come on, that’s never not fun. We’ll find out June 22nd.