No One Is Safe in Raising Kanan's Explosive Final Season

NEW YORK — STARZ turned the premiere of Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 5 into a full-scale farewell celebration at The Times Center. The event brought together the cast, creators, network executives and franchise alumni for what quickly felt less like a routine launch and more like a sendoff for one of the most influential chapters in the Power universe.

The carpet featured Patina Miller, Mekai Curtis, London Brown, Malcolm Mays, Joey Bada$$, Hailey Kilgore, Shameik Moore, Tony Danza, Wendell Pierce, Erika Woods, Leslie Grossman and Joe Pantoliano. Creator, executive producer and showrunner Sascha Penn and executive producer Mark Canton attended STARZ leadership Kathryn Busby.

Power: Origins cast members Spence Moore and Charlie Mann pulled up, a symbolic reminder that while Raising Kanan is ending, the franchise is preparing its next beginning.

The premiere set the tone: this season is a reckoning.

Kathryn Busby told the crowd that the final season is “a reckoning—for every character, every choice, and every consequence,” calling the storytelling “a suspenseful whirlwind of emotion” packed with the kind of twists that keep audiences coming back.

Penn followed by thanking STARZ for allowing the series to end on its own terms, then singled out Mekai Curtis for praise. “He didn’t just fill his shoes, he made them his own,” Penn said, referring to the challenge of portraying the younger version of Kanan Stark.

RELATED STORY: ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan Cast’ Celebrates Final Season at Starz-Studded New York Premiere

Is Lou’s Time Up?

For all the talk of twists, the most immediate question hanging over Season 5 is whether viewers are about to lose Lou-Lou Thomas, one of the show’s most beloved characters.

When Radio/TV personality Jazmyn Summers caught up with Malcolm Mays for Radio One on the carpet, the actor sounded strikingly calm about the possibility.

“It’s only goodbye to the character, but not to me.”

Asked how it felt to potentially close the chapter on Lou after years in the role, Mays replied:

“I’m at peace with it. We did everything we were supposed to do with that character and everything we were supposed to do with this series. I can’t be mad at something that feels complete.”

Those comments land heavily because the premiere episode reportedly left the audience gasping at multiple reveals before ending to a roaring round of applause.

No One Is Safe

Penn won’t confirm any deaths, but he offered little reassurance.

“I think there will be a lot of twists and turns. There will be some wins and losses and there will be some stuff that I think will be tough for some of the fans to handle.”

He also delivered a warning familiar to longtime Power viewers:

“No one is ever truly safe.”

According to Penn, the final season was built as a “high stakes volatile conclusion” that resolves lingering questions.

“We leave no question unanswered.”

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Kanan vs. Raq Reaches a Breaking Point

At the center of the final season is the increasingly explosive relationship between Kanan Stark and his mother, Raq.

What began as a complicated bond built on loyalty, protection and manipulation has evolved into a fight for independence, power and control.

Mekai Curtis framed the conflict not as a lack of love, but as a failure to hear each other.

“Sometimes they’re going to get the ugliest parts of you.”

“With how much Kanan and Raq are trying to show that they love each other, they’re not listening to one another.”

Curtis said Kanan is trying to force his mother to recognize him as an adult making his own choices.

“Whether they’re decisions that you and I like or not, this is what I’m deciding to do as a grown man.”

Penn sees deeper flaws driving the rupture.

“She has a tough time differentiating between her son and herself.”

“She doesn’t know where she begins and he ends.”

“I think there’s a decent amount of narcissism there as well. And I think she has trouble with empathy.”

Enter Breeze

For years, fans have waited for Breeze. Now Shameik Moore steps into one of the franchise’s most mythologized roles.

Moore said he approached the part by studying the broader Power universe.

“We know that Tommy, Kanan and Ghost learned from Breeze. All of their characters have to be seen in mind.”

He acknowledged that some fans expected a physically imposing kingpin, but said this version of Breeze is built on charisma, hunger and unpredictability.

“Breeze got to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Curtis described Kanan’s attraction to Breeze’s style in equally dangerous terms.

“I think he’s a bull in a china shop. And Kanan realizes that and that’s what he gravitates towards.”

The partnership may be profitable, but it is not built on trust.

“He doesn’t trust him fully. He knows Breeze doesn’t trust him fully, but they’re going to work together.”

Marvin Is Done Playing Nice

If there is one character who appears ready to explode, it’s Marvin Thomas.

London Brown teased a darker, more dangerous Marvin in Season 5.

Asked about a trailer moment in which Raq warns Marvin that there may be no turning back, Brown explained:

“Marvin doesn’t care. He’s out for revenge.”

He described Marvin’s mindset in blunt terms:

“Marvin is just at a place where he’s not tolerating any disrespect.”

“Now he’s holding people accountable.”

Brown also revealed that he styled himself for the premiere, joking that he was ready to add “stylist” to his multi-hyphenate résumé of actor, comedian, dancer and impressionist.

Pop, Snaps and a Deadly Family Business

Meanwhile, the OG gangster couple Pop and Snaps are expanding their empire and bringing Breeze into the fold.

Erika Woods hinted that Pop becomes even more dangerous this season.

“As you know, Pop is not afraid to get her hands dirty.”

She also teased escalating warfare among rival families fighting for control of South Jamaica, Queens.

“There are so many people and different families and different individuals all trying to get the biggest piece of the pie.”

Moore added one of the premiere night’s most ominous warnings:

“You might get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and end up dead.”

Unique Gets Wilder

Fans hoping for a calmer, more reflective Unique should recalibrate.

Joey Bada$$ promised exactly the opposite.

“One of the beautiful things about Unique’s character is that unpredictability.”

“He gets even wilder.”

He kept plot specifics locked down, but described the evolving relationship between Unique and Raq as an “interesting love story,” a phrase that should make longtime viewers immediately suspicious.

From TV’s Favorite Nice Guy to One of Power’s Most Dangerous Men

Few transformations in television are as striking as Tony Danza’s evolution into Stefano Marchetti.

For decades, audiences knew Danza as the lovable star of Taxi and Who’s the Boss?, the kind of charismatic everyman viewers rooted for week after week.

In Raising Kanan, however, Danza has embraced a dramatically different role as Stefano, the calculating mob boss whose influence stretches across New York’s criminal underworld.

When Summers asked where the gangster came from, Danza pointed to both his upbringing and the show’s writing.

“Well, I’m a kid from Brooklyn.”

He quickly added, “It’s the writing. They give you such good stuff to say.”

This season, Stefano’s relationship with Raq appears to become even more dangerous. What once carried hints of flirtation and mutual admiration now looks increasingly like a collision course.

“I think he had a thing for her,” Danza admitted.

When asked whether there could still be feelings beneath the hostility, he teased fans with a simple response:

“Maybe.”

Whether romance survives beneath the rivalry remains to be seen, but Stefano and Raq seem headed toward conflict rather than reconciliation.

Danza also hinted that fans should brace themselves for jaw-dropping developments.

“Every time we had a reading, every episode, everybody would get their scripts and you’d hear, ‘What? Oh my God. What are you kidding?'”

For a cast that has spent years navigating murders, betrayals and power struggles, that’s saying something.

The Cast Gets Personal

Between the warnings about betrayals and bloodshed, Summers also got a handful of surprisingly candid personal moments from the cast.

Mays said ladies are welcome to slide into his DMs, though “I can’t guarantee a response,” adding that he is focused on settling down with someone special. He wouldn’t say who or when but said “there will be signs soon.” His self-described bad habit? “Caring too much.” His biggest pet peeve? “Ignorance. Of all shapes and kinds whether it’s in the highest office or the lowest.”

Moore admitted his own bad habit is “talking too much” and confirmed that Spider-Verse remains on his horizon.

Joey Bada$$ confessed that his worst habit is staying up too late even when he knows he has responsibilities the next morning. His pet peeve? “Customer service calls.”

Curtis offered perhaps the most revealing glimpse into who he is beyond Kanan when discussing the Black power and love artwork hanging behind him during the interview, 

“It’s a reminder of just all the things that you do this for.”

He said the piece reminds him daily to maintain balance between “soul, mind, body.”

One Last Ride

After the screening, the celebration moved to BOOM at The Standard, where guests toasted the season with themed cocktails, danced to a DJ set by Errol Chatham, reflected on the series’ legacy and cheered on the New York Knicks during Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The after-party had the energy of a victory lap, but the mood of the interviews pointed somewhere darker: the final season is coming for everyone, and even the people who made it aren’t pretending otherwise.

Tony Danza captured that feeling best.

“Every time we had a reading, every episode, everybody would get their scripts and you’d hear, ‘What? Oh my God. What are you kidding?’”

If the cast reacted that way while making it, viewers may want to keep the popcorn warm.

As Curtis warned:

“Season five is full of a bunch of twists and turns and surprises that nobody’s ready for.”

Power Book III: Raising Kanan returns June 12 on STARZ for its fifth and final season.

You can catch the full interviews and see what they’re rocking on the carpet in the video below

Article by Jazmyn Summers.  Photos and video by 7Spontaneous of The Revenue Entertainment You can hear Jazmyn every morning on “Jazmyn in the Morning “on Sirius XM Channel 362 Grown Folk Jamz.  Subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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No One Is Safe in Raising Kanan’s Explosive Final Season was originally published on blackamericaweb.com