''Power Book III: Raising Kanan'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series created by Sascha Penn that premiered on July 18, 2021 on

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

. It is a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

and second spin-off to ''

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

''. In July 2021, the series was renewed for a second season ahead of its premiere. The second season premiered on August 14, 2022. On August 11, the series was renewed for a third season ahead of its second season premiere.

Premise

Set in the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

, ''Raising Kanan'' chronicles the early years of

Kanan Stark ''Power'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Courtney A. Kemp in collaboration with Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American ...

(the character first played by executive producer

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

), as he gets into the drug game.

Cast and characters

Main

* Mekai Curtis as

, Raq's son. *

Patina Miller Patina Renea Miller is an American actress and singer. Miller's breakout role was as originating the role of disco diva wannabe Deloris Van Cartier in the 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway productions of '' Sister Act'' for which she earned a Laur ...

as Raquel Thomas, Kanan's mother; one of two major drug lords of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

London Brown London Brown is an American actor, dancer, comedian, radio host, and impressionist. Born in Los Angeles, California, Brown is best known for his appearance on the HBO series " Ballers" (2015–2019). As of 2021 Brown currently stars in STARZ Pow ...

as Marvin Thomas, Kanan's uncle. He is Raq and Lou's older brother *

Malcolm Mays Malcolm Michael Mays (born February 14, 1990) is an American actor, musician, and filmmaker. At the age of seventeen, Mays co-directed and produced his own short film, aided by producer Todd Black, Gary Martin of Sony Pictures and others. Mays is ...

as Louis "Lou-Lou" Thomas, Kanan's uncle. He is Raq and Marvin's younger brother *

Joey Bada$$ Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A native of Brooklyn, New York City, he is a founding member of the hip-hop collective Pro ...

as Unique, Raq's rival drug lord * Shanley Caswell as Shannon Burke *

Hailey Kilgore Hailey Frances Kilgore (born February 16, 1999) is an American actress and singer. Kilgore's breakthrough role was as Ti Moune in the Broadway theatre, Broadway revival of List of coming-of-age stories, coming-of-age One-act play, one-actMusical ...

as LaVerne "Jukebox" Thomas, Kanan's cousin and Marvin's daughter * Toby Sandeman as Symphony Bosket, Raq's boyfriend *

Lovie Simone Lovie Simone Oppong (born November 29, 1998) is an American actress, best known for her role as Zora Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, '' Greenleaf''. Life and career Simone was born in New York City at The Bronx and raised i ...

as Davina Harrison, Kanan's girlfriend (season 1) *

Omar Epps Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. Epps's film role ...

as Malcolm Howard, NYPD Detective and Kanan's biological father * Antonio Ortiz as Shawn 'Famous' Figueroa, Kanan's best friend and aspiring rapper (season 2, recurring season 1) * Grantham Coleman as Ronnie Mathis (season 3)

Recurring

AnnaLynne McCord AnnaLynne McCord (born July 16, 1987) is an American actress, activist, and model. Known for playing vixen-type roles, McCord first gained prominence in 2007 as the scheming Eden Lord on the FX television series ''Nip/Tuck'', and as the pampe ...

as Toni Deep * Natalee Linez as Jessica Figueroa, Famous' manager and sister and Lou's ex-girlfriend * Ade Chike Torbert as Scrappy, one of Raq's most trusted soldiers * Annabelle Zasowski as Nicole Bingham, Jukebox's girlfriend (season 1) *

Quincy Brown Quincy Taylor Brown (born June 4, 1991) is an American actor and singer who performs under the mononym Quincy. He starred in the 2015 film '' Brotherly Love'' and released a song called "Friends First". He also had a co-starring role on the te ...

as Crown Camacho, record label owner/producer of Bulletproof Records * John Clay III as Worrell, Unique's right hand man * Lebrodrick Benson as Cj * Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Deen, distributor of the drugs to Unique and Raquel Thomas *

LeToya Luckett LeToya Nicole Luckett (born March 11, 1981) is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a founding member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. As a me ...

as Kenya Pierce, Jukebox's mother and Marvin's ex who left the family to make it as a professional singer in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

(season 2) *

Omar Dorsey Omar J. Dorsey (born December 22, 1975) is an American actor. He has appeared in films '' The Blind Side'' (2009), ''Django Unchained'' (2012), and ''Selma'' (2014) playing James Orange. In 2016, Dorsey began starring as Hollingsworth "Hollywo ...

as Cartier "Duns" Fareed (season 2) * Krystal Joy Brown as Renée Timmons (season 2) *

Danny Mastrogiorgio Danny Mastrogiorgio (born October 26, 1964) is an American actor who has also provided voice work for video games. He is best known for providing the voice of Toni Cipriani in the 2005 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' and f ...

as Jimmy (season 2) *

Paulina Singer Paulina Singer (born September 5, 1991) is an American actress, known for her roles as Grace Bledsoe on We TV's horror drama series '' South of Hell'' and Jessie Tyler on Freeform's teen drama series '' Dead of Summer''. Early life Singer was ...

as Zisa, Lou's new aspiring singer (season 2) *

Michael Rispoli Michael Rispoli is an American character actor. He was a contender for the role of Tony Soprano in the HBO television series ''The Sopranos,'' but was ultimately cast as Jackie Aprile, a recurring character in the show’s first season. Rispo ...

as Sal Boselli, Mafia Don of NJ (season 2) * Paloma Guzman as Detective Regina Foyle *

KJ Smith KJ Smithis an American actress known for her roles in various television shows and films. She was born on May 6, 1987, in Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Education She studied Business marketing, Business Marketing at Florid ...

as Palomar, Corinne's mother & Kanan's ex lover (season 2) * Josephine Lawrence as Corinne, Palomar's daughter & Kanan's love interest (season 2) *

Chyna Layne Chyna Layne is a Jamaican American actress who has appeared in a number of films and television productions, including the movie '' Precious'', the television movie ''Life Support'', and the television drama ''Push''. Career Layne has appeared ...

as Andrea, Howard's ex lover (season 2) *

Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983) and '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award a ...

as Stefano Marchetti (season 3; guest season 2) *

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...

as Ishmael "Snaps" Henry (season 3) * Erika Woods as Stephanie 'Pop' Henry (season 3)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

The series was first announced in February 2020. On July 12, 2021, Starz renewed the series for a second season ahead of its premiere. The second season premiered on August 14, 2022. On August 11, 2022, ahead of its second season premiere, Starz renewed the series for a third season.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9.33/10, based on 6 critic reviews.

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

References

External links

* * {{Starz Shows 2020s American drama television series 2020s American black television series 2020 American television series debuts American television spin-offs English-language television shows Starz original programming Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Lionsgate Television Television series by G-Unit Films and Television Inc.