"Raising Kanan" Premieres With A Face-Rockin,' Pistol-Poppin' BANG

“Power Book III: Raising Kanan” Premieres With A Face Rockin,’ Pistol-Poppin’ BANG, Expands Starz’s Cinematic Powerverse

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Power Book III!

Raising Kanan assets

Source: STARZ

After silencing naysayers with hit “Power” spin-off “Power Book II: Ghost,” STARZ expanded its cinematic Powerverse, yet again, with “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” that premiered with a Supra-sized BANG fueled by Patina Miller’s screen-searing performance as Kanan’s mother (and Queen pin) Raquel “Raq” Thomas.

Set in South Jamaica, Queens, in 1991, “Raising Kanan” is a sprawling prequel to the original Power franchise that revolves around the coming of age of Kanan Stark–Ghost and Tommy’s mentor, partner and adversary, who ultimately dies in a hail of gunfire in the eighth episode of Power’s penultimate season.

When we catch up with Kanan here, though, he’s the 15-year-old son of Raquel “Raq” Thomas–a cocaine distributor with an emerging network of dealers across the city. Much like the original “Power,” “Raising Kanan” explores themes of identity, violence, and legacy, but it is also a deep dive into the very pathology of family; the unique, complicated and fraught dynamic between parent and child, mother and father, brother and sister.

In an increasingly fractious world, family often feels like the only refuge from all the divisiveness and discord and yet, at the same time, we often discover that it is those closest to us who betray us and our values most. The first season of “Raising Kanan” is an exploration of these betrayals, the secrets and lies that accompany them and the ways in which they fester, metastasize and ultimately erupt.

Cast includes Mekai Curtis plays the titular character of Kanan Stark, Omar Epps (“Love and Basketball”) as Detective Malcolm Howard, London Brown (“Ballers”) as Marvin Thomas, Malcolm Mays (“Snowfall”) as Louis “Lou-Lou” Thomas, Tony© and Grammy© Award Nominee Hailey Kilgore as Jukebox, Joey Bada$$ as Unique, Toby Sandeman (“The Royals”) as Symphony Bosket, Shanley Caswell (The Conjuring) as Detective Shannon Burke, Lovie Simone (The Craft: Legacy) as Davina Harrison and Quincy Brown (Dope) as Crown Camacho.

Did you catch the premiere (or plan on peeping it)? Tell us down below and peep the Twitter hysteria over Power Book III on the flip.

“Raquel: “Deal with them, or deal with me!”

Kanan:” – haaaaa

“Kanan and his mom at the end of the episode” – *howls*

“Kanan’s momma is EVERYTHANG. Now I gotta go comb the junkyards and piece me together a Supra so I can roll up on these bishes” – the real MVP

“Kanan mom watching her son beat up his bullies” – she’s the realest

“Essentially Kanan is Tariq before Tariq was Tariq Face with tears of joy #RaisingKanan” – it all makes sense now

“the beautiful darkskin women in #RaisingKanan tho” – whewwwww

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“Okay intro song!” – JAMMIN

“Pay attention to the fact that both young Jukebox and Kanan sound like the older characters.
They did an amazing job.
Props to both actors!” – perfectly done

“need that second episode now” – ASAP

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