‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’: LeToya Luckett Wants Fans to Empathize With Kenya

Power Book III: Raising Kanan is centered on the coming-of-age stories of Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) and his cousin, Jukebox (Hailey Kilgrove).  Kanan was raised by his drug queenpin mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas’ (Patina Miller). Jukebox’s upbringing was a bit more complicated. She was abandoned by her mother Kenya (LeToya Luckett), as a baby. She has also had a lot of turmoil with her father, Marvin (London Brown).

Now, Kenya is back in Jukebox’s life, and Luckett wants fans to empathize with her character.

Kenya has reentered Jukebox’s life on ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’

Before season 2 of Raising Kanan, not much was known about Jukebox’s mother, only that she abandoned her as a baby to move to Los Angeles and pursue her dream of singing. As a result, Jukebox was raised by her father, Marvin but mostly by her aunt Raq.

Kenya is back, but we don’t think she’s here to stay. We think she will either leave on her own, or Raq and Marvin will get her to leave.

LeToya Luckett wants people to empathize with Kenya

It’s no secret that neither Raq nor Marvin is pleased that Kenya is back in Jukebox’s life. Raq told her niece that she had no respect for a mother who abandoned her child. She also said that family is something that must be earned.

For his part, Marvin almost hit the roof when he heard of Kenya’s return. Despite his strained relationship with her daughter, he’s not here for Kenya swooping in.

Kenya has made many mistakes, but Luckett says she hopes people open their hearts just a little to her character. “I wanted [the viewers]  to have some empathy for her,” she told Variety. “Being a mom and deserting a child, this wasn’t something that I could just breeze over. I had to put every emotion, remove every judgment and go in as best I could because I wanted to tell her story well.”

‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ fans think Kenya will leave Jukebox again

As much as Kenya and Jukebox are beginning to bond, we think it will all collapse in on itself. After all, though Kenya had been back in New York for some time, Jukebox had to seek her out. Moreover, she knows nothing about Jukebox’s sexuality and keeps trying to dress her up in a girly wardrobe.

We think a falling out with her mother will push Jukebox into becoming the cold-blooded killer we met 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.”