# Power Book III: Raising Kanan (2021)

> A teenage Kanan Stark navigates the drug trade of 1991 South Jamaica, Queens, as he begins his path toward becoming a kingpin.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/103290

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 48
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Sascha Penn, 50 Cent
- Network: STARZ
- Cast: Mekai Curtis, Patina Miller, Omar Epps, Hailey Kilgore, Antonio Ortiz, Toby Sandeman, Lovie Simone, London Brown
- TMDB rating: 7.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11761176/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: graphic
- Tone: gritty, tense, nostalgic, melancholic

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively overall, with the later seasons rated far higher than the early ones.

## Synopsis

Power Book III: Raising Kanan (2021-2026) is a US crime drama series created by Sascha Penn and 50 Cent for STARZ. Set in South Jamaica, Queens in 1991, this prequel to Power follows a young Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) as he comes of age inside the city's street economy. Alongside him, Raqel Thomas (Patina Miller) and Malcolm Howard (Omar Epps) hold pressure from the drug trade on every side, while LaVerne Ganner (Hailey Kilgore) and Shawn Figueroa (Antonio Ortiz) pull him toward loyalty and ambition. The engine of the series is a young man's hunger to rise in a world that offers few safe routes out, with each season built around territory fights, shifting alliances, and the costs of every deal. Its five seasons form one continuing serialized story that moves at a steady pace through the back rooms, clubs, and tenements of early nineties Queens. The tone is gritty and tense, with a nostalgic soundtrack and a melancholy sense of how quickly youth becomes consequence. Fans of Power, The Wire, and Snowfall will find resonance in its street level saga, its family pressures, and its portrait of ambition shaped by a dangerous city.

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