Power Book III: Raising Kanan, or simply Raising Kanan, is an American crime drama television series created by Sascha Penn that premiered on July 18, 2021, on Starz. It is a standalone prequel, and the second spin-off, to Power.
The third season premiered on December 1, 2023. In November 2023, ahead of the third season premiere, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on March 7, 2025. On March 27, 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth and final season which premiered on June 12, 2026.
Contents
Premise
Set in the 1990s, Raising Kanan chronicles the early years of Kanan Stark (the character first played by executive producer Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), as he gets into the drug game as he helps his mom's growing drug business.
Cast and characters
Main
Mekai Curtis as Kanan Stark, Raq's son
Patina Miller as Raquel "Raq" Thomas, Kanan's mother; one of two major drug lords of Queens
London Brown as Marvin Thomas, Jukebox's father and Kanan's uncle. He is Raq and Lou's older brother
Malcolm Mays as Louis "Lou-Lou" Thomas, Kanan's uncle. He is Raq and Marvin's younger brother (seasons 1–4; guest season 5)
Joey Bada$$ as Kadeem "Unique" Mathis, Raq's rival drug lord and later love interest
Hailey Kilgore as LaVerne "Jukebox" Thomas, Kanan's cousin and Marvin's daughter
Shanley Caswell as Shannon Burke (seasons 1–2; guest season 3)
Toby Sandeman as Symphony Bosket, Raq's boyfriend (season 1; recurring season 2)
Lovie Simone as Davina Harrison, Kanan's girlfriend (season 1)
Omar Epps as Malcolm Howard, NYPD Detective and Kanan's biological father (seasons 1–3; guest season 4)
Antonio Ortiz as Shawn 'Famous' Figueroa, Kanan's best friend and aspiring rapper (seasons 2–3, recurring season 1)
Grantham Coleman as Ronnie Mathis, Unique's stoic and ruthless older brother, who was recently released from prison (season 3; guest season 4)
Shameik Moore as Branford "Breeze" Frady, Kanan's close associate (season 5; guest season 4)
Recurring
Sharon Washington as Joyce Thomas, Raquel, Marvin, and Louis's mother, Kanan and Jukebox's grandmother (seasons 1–4)
AnnaLynne McCord as Toni Deep (seasons 1–2)
Natalee Linez as Jessica Figueroa, Famous' manager and sister and Lou's ex-girlfriend (seasons 1–2 and 4–5)
Ade Chike Torbert as Scrappy (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), one of Raq's most trusted soldiers
Annabelle Zasowski as Nicole Bingham, Jukebox's girlfriend (season 1)
Quincy Brown as Crown Camacho (seasons 1–2), record label owner/producer of Bulletproof Records
John Clay III as Worrell (seasons 1–2), Unique's right-hand man
Terence Archie as Andre Barnes, Thomas family's attorney (seasons 1–4)
Lebrodrick Benson as CJ
Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Azumadeen "Deen" Tippet (seasons 1–3), distributor of the drugs to Unique and Raq.
Dorothi Fox as Deen's grandmother (seasons 1–3)
LeToya Luckett as Kenya Pierce, Jukebox's mother and Marvin's ex who left the family to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles (season 2)
Omar Dorsey as Cartier "Duns" Fareed (season 2)
Krystal Joy Brown as Renée Timmons (season 2)
Danny Mastrogiorgio as Jimmy (season 2)
Episodes
Production
The series was first announced in February 2020. On July 12, 2021, Starz renewed the series for a second season ahead of its premiere. The second season premiered on August 14, 2022. On August 11, 2022, ahead of its second season premiere, Starz renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on December 1, 2023. On November 28, 2023, ahead of its third season premiere, Starz renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on March 7, 2025. On March 27, 2024, Starz renewed the series for a fifth season. In May 2025, the fifth season was confirmed to be its last. It premiered on June 12, 2026.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9.3/10, based on 6 critic reviews.
