‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Creator Sascha Penn Just Addressed the Pacing of the Show

Power Book III: Raising Kanan centers on the teen years of the infamous Power character Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis).  Kanan’s mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas (Patina Miller), is a drug queenpin who runs her business with her brothers, Marvin (London Brown) and Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays). Kanan’s relationship with his mother and the family business is slowly transforming him into the heartless gangster fans met in the original show.

As much as Raising Kanan is praised for its acting, the series has also been criticized for its slow moving-pace.

Here’s what we know about ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 3

Though the Raising Kanan Season 2 finale just aired, filming for Season 3 has been underway since Sept. 2022. As Kanan becomes a darker character, Lou drifts away from the family, and Raq has to reconcile with her choices and lies; things are about to get more complicated for the family and the familial business.

Sascha Penn just addressed the pacing of the show

As much as fans have been thrilled with Raising Kanan, one of the major complaints is that it lacks the rapid-fire pacing that Power and Power Book II: Ghost fans are accustomed to. However, Penn says that is a purposeful choice. He told Uproxx,

“I pay attention to stuff that people say online, like everybody else, and one of the things we’ve heard fairly consistently is, ‘Oh, the pacing, the pacing, the pacing,’ but listen, we have to acclimate you to these characters. You don’t know them; you don’t know this world. This is 1992 South Jamaica, Queens. This isn’t Truth; this isn’t Ghost, this isn’t Tommy. We gotta get you invested in these characters and this world because if you’re not invested in them, you won’t give a sh*t what we do to them, you won’t care — and by the way, as a writer, neither would I.”

It appears that after two seasons, the series has found its footing, and now things might pick up from here on out.

Some new characters will emerge in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 3

Now that we understand who the characters are, especially Kanan, Raq, and their family, new characters can emerge and push the story forward. The Americans actor Grantham Coleman has just been cast as Unique’s (Joey Bada$$) older brother Ronnie. Tony Danza will also join the cast in a recurring role as New York mob godfather Stefano Marchetti.

“I do think that in season three, there’s a lot that happens, and there are some new characters that emerge,” Penn told Uproxx. “We’ve done, I think, a very decent job pacing this thing out so we can get to where we are now. We’ve spent a good amount of time over the past two seasons developing these characters, making them feel human, and exploring their humanity. I think we’ve done a good enough job that people are responding well, right? So I think if you liked the finale, you’re going to really, really like season three because season three continues on with the groundwork that the finale laid out.”