# Power Book III: Raising Kanan

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 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 season.

## 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
* Joey Bada$$ as Kadeem "Unique" Mathis, Raq's rival drug lord and later love interest
* Shanley Caswell as Shannon Burke (seasons 1–2; guest season 3)
* Hailey Kilgore as LaVerne "Jukebox" Thomas, Kanan's cousin and Marvin's daughter
* 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 (season 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)

### Recurring

* 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; guest season 4)
* 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,The Thomas family's attorney (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)
* Paulina Singer as Zisa, Lou's new aspiring singer (season 2)
* Michael Rispoli as Sal Boselli, Mafia Don of NJ (seasons 2–3)
* Paloma Guzman as Detective Regina Foyle
* KJ Smith as Palomar, Corinne's mother & Kanan's ex-lover (season 2)
* Josephine Lawrence as Corinne, Palomar's daughter & Kanan's love interest (season 2)
* Chyna Layne as Andrea, Howard's ex-lover (season 2)
* Tony Danza as Stefano Marchetti (season 3–present; guest season 2)
* Wendell Pierce as Ishmael "Snaps" Henry (season 3)
* Erika Woods as Stephanie 'Pop' Henry (season 3)
* Liv Symone as Iesha (season 3) Jukebox's former bandmate in the group Butta
* Aliyah Turner as Krystal (season 3–present), Kanan's latest lover and mother of his unborn child and Jukebox's former bandmate in the group Butta
* Lev Gorn as Detective Arthur Ogden (season 3)
* Sibongile Mlambo as Imani Okoye (season 4)
* Paul Ben-Victor as Phil Russo (season 4)

## Episodes
### Series overview

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 10 | 10 | July 18, 2021 (2021-7-18) | September 26, 2021 (2021-9-26) |
| 2 | 10 | 10 | August 14, 2022 (2022-8-14) | October 23, 2022 (2022-10-23) |
| 3 | 10 | 10 | December 1, 2023 (2023-12-1) | February 9, 2024 (2024-2-9) |
| 4 | TBA | TBA | March 7, 2025 (2025-3-7) | TBA |

### Season 1 (2021)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Back in the Day" | Rob Hardy | Sascha Penn | July 18, 2021 (2021-7-18) | 0.438 |
| 2 | 2 | "Reaping and Sowing" | Mario Van Peebles | Bashir Gavriel & Sascha Penn | July 25, 2021 (2021-7-25) | 0.392 |
| 3 | 3 | "Stick and Move" | Lisa Leone | Josef Sawyer | August 1, 2021 (2021-8-1) | 0.307 |
| 4 | 4 | "Don't Sleep" | Hernan Otaño | Santa Sierra | August 8, 2021 (2021-8-8) | 0.378 |
| 5 | 5 | "Choose Your Battles" | Eif Rivera | Mike Flynn | August 15, 2021 (2021-8-15) | 0.386 |
| 6 | 6 | "Level Up" | Kieron Hawkes | Dylan C. Brown | August 29, 2021 (2021-8-29) | 0.348 |
| 7 | 7 | "Stay in Your Lane" | Lisa Leone | Nina Manni | September 5, 2021 (2021-9-5) | 0.270 |
| 8 | 8 | "The Cost of Business" | Hernan Otaño | Tash Gray | September 12, 2021 (2021-9-12) | 0.418 |
| 9 | 9 | "Loyal to the End" | Bart Wenrich | Matt K. Turner | September 19, 2021 (2021-9-19) | 0.486 |
| 10 | 10 | "Paid in Full" | Rob Hardy | Kevin Fox | September 26, 2021 (2021-9-26) | 0.458 |

### Season 2 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) |
| 11 | 1 | "The More Things Change" | Mario Van Peebles | Sascha Penn | August 14, 2022 (2022-8-14) | 0.345 |
| 12 | 2 | "Mind Your Business" | Eif Rivera | Santa Sierra | August 21, 2022 (2022-8-21) | 0.269 |
| 13 | 3 | "Sleeping Dogs" | Shana Stein | Nina Manni | August 28, 2022 (2022-8-28) | 0.232 |
| 14 | 4 | "Pay the Toll" | Monty DeGraff | Dylan C. Brown | September 4, 2022 (2022-9-4) | 0.211 |
| 15 | 5 | "What Happens in the Catskills" | Hernán Otaño | Tash Gray | September 11, 2022 (2022-9-11) | 0.206 |
| 16 | 6 | "It's a Business, Man" | Bart Wenrich | Mike Flynn | September 18, 2022 (2022-9-18) | 0.213 |
| 17 | 7 | "No Love Lost" | Joy T. Lane | Josef Sawyer | October 2, 2022 (2022-10-2) | 0.220 |
| 18 | 8 | "A House Is Not a Home" | Stacey Muhammad & Monty DeGraff | Matt K. Turner | October 9, 2022 (2022-10-9) | 0.235 |
| 19 | 9 | "Anti-Trust" | Erica Watson | Kevin Fox | October 16, 2022 (2022-10-16) | 0.210 |
| 20 | 10 | "If Y'Dont Know, Now Y'Know" | Rob Hardy | Sascha Penn & Naja Rayne | October 23, 2022 (2022-10-23) | 0.273 |

### Season 3 (2023–24)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) |
| 21 | 1 | "Home Sweet Home" | Rob Hardy | Sascha Penn | December 1, 2023 (2023-12-1) | 0.199 |
| 22 | 2 | "Flipmode" | Brendan Walsh | Dylan C. Brown | December 8, 2023 (2023-12-8) | 0.190 |
| 23 | 3 | "Open for Business" | Bobby Kennedy | Michael M. Chang | December 15, 2023 (2023-12-15) | 0.215 |
| 24 | 4 | "In Sheep's Clothing" | Monty DeGraff | Santa Sierra | December 22, 2023 (2023-12-22) | 0.233 |
| 25 | 5 | "Brothers and Keepers" | Joy T. Lane | Naja Rayne | December 29, 2023 (2023-12-29) | 0.236 |
| 26 | 6 | "Into the Darkness" | Cierra 'Shooter' Glaude | Nina Manni | January 12, 2024 (2024-1-12) | 0.217 |
| 27 | 7 | "Where All Are Guilty" | Sascha Penn | Brian Walker | January 19, 2024 (2024-1-19) | 0.256 |
| 28 | 8 | "Reckonings" | Dawn Wilkinson, Monty DeGraff & Sascha Penn | Tash Gray | January 26, 2024 (2024-1-26) | 0.202 |
| 29 | 9 | "Home to Roost" | Monty DeGraff | Kevin Fox | February 2, 2024 (2024-2-02) | 0.321 |
| 30 | 10 | "Made You Look" | Eif Rivera | Sascha Penn & Albert Minnis | February 9, 2024 (2024-2-09) | 0.239 |

### Season 4 (2025)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) |
| 31 | 1 | "Gangstas Don't Die" | Mario Van Peebles | Sascha Penn & Albert Minnis | March 7, 2025 (2025-3-7) | TBD |
| 32 | 2 | "It's All Love" | Monty DeGraff | Dylan C. Brown | March 14, 2025 (2025-3-14) | TBD |

## 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.

## Reception
### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9.3/10, based on 6 critic reviews.