‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Centers Women in a Very Real Way
Since Power originally debuted, the series has seen some incredible women. There was Tasha St. Patrick (Naturi Naughton), Monet Tejada (Mary J. Blige) in Power Book II: Ghost, and even Claudia Flynn (Lili Simmons) in Power Book IV: Force. However, there has been no character as compelling as Raquel Thomas (Patina Miller) in Power Book III: Raising Kanan.
In fact, Raising Kanan centers women in a very real way.
‘Power’ Universe creator Courtney Kemp wanted to do a show with a female lead
When Courtney Kemp began thinking about Power, she wanted to write a show about what it means to try to run from the choices of your past. She chose to create the character James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) using her father and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as models. Since then, the universe has expanded, but there hasn’t been a series with a true female lead. Kemp explained that Raising Kanan’s Raq was as close as they were able to come.
“The closest we have come to be honest has been Raq in Raising Kanan,” she replied when asked about a series with a female lead during an Instagram Live. “That performance by Patina Miller is everything, that’s the closest we’ve come to having a female lead. It’s just the way that the shows broke out. Because Tasha (Naturi Naughton) went into witness protection, there really wasn’t a story to tell there. Other than that, because I’m leaving and going off to Netflix, there probably won’t be another spinoff that is about a woman, but I don’t know. If I was staying and I was going to another one that wasn’t Influence, I would probably do Effie.”
‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ centers Raquel Thomas
Though the series is about Kanan, we would argue that Raq is the real lead on the show. “I think seeing a woman in charge like that has been a lot of different things for a lot of people,” Miller told Deadline via Express. “But I know for women, it’s very empowering to see that. To see how Raq has maneuvered through this world. Not only is she just a female in a man’s world, but she’s a single mom and she’s successful at her business, but she’s also raising her son and she’s successful at that for now.”
Raq may get a new enemy in ‘Raising Kanan’ Season 2
For the second season, the Raising Kanan cast is set to expand to include several new cast members including LeToya Luckett as Jukebox’s (Hailey Kilgore) mother, Kenya. Also, Sistas actor KJ Smith is stepping onto the scene as a woman named Palomar. She could cause some major problems for Raq.
“Smith will play Palomar,” Deadline reports. “One of Famous’s new neighbors, Palomar is a young mom who’s frequently mistaken for her daughter, Corinne’s, older sister. Any responsible parent wouldn’t let their daughter within a mile of Kanan, Famous, and their friends, but Palomar is not that parent.”
Since Palomar is intentionally allowing her daughter to be around Kanan, we would think that Raq needs to be very wary of her and her motives.
