Luke Cage
Source: Netflix
By now you've probably watched Luke Cage several times, looking for all of the easter eggs that we graciously discovered on your behalf, but it turns out that there's a certain treat in the series that serves a bigger part than we all might've thought — Pop's swear jar.
To viewers, Pop's swear jar was just another part of his barbershop being "Switzerland": a place of solitude and peace within the chaos of Harlem, where no cursing or violence was allowed.
Well, according to showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, the swear jar was also used in hopes of getting a special guest appearance on to the show — Prince.
That's right, Coker wanted to have the one and only Purple One on the series.
"The 'Swear Jar' was for Prince," Coker tweeted. "I was going to show him the first two episodes and convince him to play in episode 13."
As a part of Prince's devotion to being a Jehovah's Witness, the artist wasn't particularly fond of cursing, owning a swear jar inside of his Paisley Park residence for people that had a foul mouth.
James Lundstrom, who had known Prince for years, previously said that "If you swore at Paisley Park, he would charge you between 10 and 3 dollars per swear word. And he wasn't joking. You had to pay in cash in the bucket."
The idea of seeing Prince within Luke Cage and, more importantly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, would've been incredible to see. But that leaves us wondering: what would Prince be doing in Harlem anyways? Playing a show at Cottonmouth's Harlem Paradise? Getting saved by Luke Cage? Or maybe even offering the titular character some wise advice? Or a New Girl-esque moment where Luke is left speechless being in the presence of the Purple Rain mastermind.
Hopefully Cheo will expound on the role he wanted Prince to have at some point in the future, but until then all we can do is imagine what could've been, before the artist's untimely passing earlier this year.
