‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’: LeToya Luckett Was a Little Intimidated by the Role of Kenya
Power Book III: Raising Kanan follows the teen years of Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) and his cousin, Jukebox (Hailey Kilgrove). Kanan was raised by his drug queenpin mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas’ (Patina Miller). In contrast, Jukebox was abandoned by her mother, Kenya (LeToya Luckett), and left in the care of her father, Marvin (London Brown).
Kenya reentered Jukebox’s life in Season 2. However, Luckett says she was intimated by the role.
Kenya has ruined her relationship with Jukebox on ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’
Fans were excited to meet Jukebox’s mother, Kenya, who’d abandoned her only child as a baby. According to the official character description, “She left their family when Jukebox was very young, tried to make it in LA as a singer, but three years ago, she moved back to New York. Upon her return, she settles in Harlem, where the church is a big part of her life.”
Jukebox was thrilled to reconnect with her mother. She changed her outward appearance and tried to fit into her mother’s world, but ultimately Kenya ruined everything.
LeToya Luckett was slightly intimated by the role of Kenya
As important of a character as Kenya is to Jukebox’s story, Luckett was a bit intimated by the role. “I would have to say, even when I was watching it just from a fan standpoint, I kind of got intimidated a little bit,” the Greenleaf actor told Huffington Post. “And I just kicked into gear and said I want to bring to the show everything that I have emotionally, everything that I am as a woman, everything that I am as an actress, everything that I am as a mom, with the character that I’m playing, everything that I am, just all of my experiences, my good, my bad. I’m pulling from everything on this.”
Luckett explained that she forced herself not to judge the character’s decision-making to step into Kenya’s shoes.
Jukebox’s relationship with Kenya in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ is a reason she turned so cold
Just when Jukebox was really beginning to trust and forgive her mother, Kenya betrayed her. She lured her daughter to her home on a school day and forced her to participate in a violent conversion session in an attempt to beat the “gay” out of her. It was horrific and disgusting. It ruined the mother/daughter bond the pair had been building and further pushed Jukebox into the woman we meet in Power.
“Now people can better appreciate why Jukebox became so tough as an adult because of the things she had to deal with growing up,” London Brown, who portrays Jukebox’s father, Marvin, told TVLine. “Her girlfriend died, and she had a strained relationship with her father. All of these layers help us understand why these characters turned out the way they did.
