Top Boy star Ashley Walters has said Drake did “all the leg work” when it came to resurrecting the show.
The rapper was so upset when he found out the Channel 4 crime drama had been axed after two seasons that he set about reviving it for a new series, which is launching on Netflix.
Walters, who plays Dushane, said: “First and foremost he’s a big fan of the show, that was his whole thing, he was like, ‘When is the next season?’
“And we had to tell him that there wasn’t one, it’s not coming, and at that point it just became about how we could get it back out there.
“If I’m honest with you, he did all the leg work.
“It went quiet for a year and then we got the call it was happening.”
Top Boy is returning for a 10-episode run on Netflix, but its future beyond that is unclear.
Walters said: “We haven’t had the OK yet for a season four, because the show hasn’t come out yet.
“To some people it might not be that great – I’m not saying everyone’s going to love it – but I think we’ve done an amazing job and I think people should really just focus on this season and enjoy it as much as they can.
“It’s 10 episodes to sink your teeth into and there’s a lot of new characters as well, so hopefully if we get all the love and everyone views it, they’ll be knocking our door down for season four.”
Co-star Kane Robinson, who plays drug dealer Sully, said the series does not glamorise violence as it shows the consequences of that the characters get up to.
“I think it’s important to show who we are and why we make the decisions we make, but then the consequences of the decisions we make,” he said.
“Maybe that could have been shown a bit more in previous seasons or maybe there just wasn’t enough time. I remember people saying, ‘Oh they’ve done all this stuff, but no one has been arrested’.
“So I think they’ve been addressed now, I’ve clearly been arrested for the things I’ve done, and these decisions that get made have consequences and it’s important to show that.
“This is not a show that glamorises violence; it’s a show for entertainment, definitely, but it can’t just be one-sided, it can’t just look like you sell drugs and everyone just gets rich and there’s no problems.
This is a world filled with problems and so it’s about how people deal with those problems – that’s what’s interesting for us to dive in as actors and play.”
Top Boy will stream on Netflix from September 13.
