Tony Danza Worried Fans Wouldn’t ‘Buy Me as the Bad Guy’ in Power Book III: Raising Kanan (Exclusive)

Tony Danza definitely had some doubts before stepping into the Power universe.

The iconic actor, 73, joined Power Book III: Raising Kanan, the prequel series about Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s character Kanan Stark, in the season 2 finale and has since become a mainstay as Italian mobster Stefano Marchetti. The decision to take the role wasn’t exactly easy though, he tells PEOPLE.

On the one hand, Danza was “worried” about playing into the stereotype of an older Italian-American man playing a mob boss.

“It’s always been something that bothered me. And the thing is that I never had to do it. A lot of my pals, they had to do it. The guy that plays Big Pussy [on The Sopranos], Vinny Pastore — what else is he going to play, you know what I mean?”

Despite his reluctance to feed into the trope, he says there was a “real push and pull” internally for him because he loved the part.

There were also his doubts about the audience’s ability to buy him as a villain to contend with. “When I first came on, I was in like the last [episode] of the second season. I had my reluctance and everything else. And then I went home after I did the part and I remember … I said, ‘Ugh.’ I called my agent. I said, ‘They’re never going to buy me as the bad guy.'”

Instead, Danza got a call asking him to reprise the character in future episodes — and now, here he is, two seasons later as a series regular.

“It’s just been a great experience. I really like the character,” he says of Stefano Marchetti, who has teamed up with Raq (Patina Miller). “I love the guy. He’s like a know-it-all who really doesn’t know much, but he really believes. And I’ve really enjoyed playing the bad guy, too, which is a lot of fun.”

It’s safe to say that Danza is happy with the decision he made. “I’ve just been so enjoying the work, the writing, the production, the acting, the people I’m working with. You work with Patina or London (Brown), forget it. That’s one of the great things that you get, every once in a while, you get to work with great actors, and it makes you so much better because they can do something that makes you do something.”

He continues of the cast, which also includes Mekai Curtis, Joey Bada$$, Malcolm Mays and Hailey Kilgore, “It’s a really wonderful bunch of people. It’s a no-nonsense group, and everybody’s pulling for each other. And the work — you feel good about the work.”

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New episodes of Power Book III: Raising Kanan premiere Thursdays at 12 a.m. ET on Starz.