This article contains spoilers for the Season 5 premiere of Power Book III: Raising Kanan..
Fans always knew Kanan Stark was a loner, but with the season finale of Book of Power III: Raising Kananhow he got there is becoming clearer and clearer. The series ended its fourth season with a blank screen and a gunshot, leaving viewers wondering if Kanan (MeKai Curtis) shot his mother, Raq (Patina Miller), or if something else happened after their charged confrontation.
Returning with the premiere of its fifth and final season, the series sealed the fate of one of its characters, Lou Thomas, played by Malcolm Mays. In a heartbreaking opening scene, Kanan accidentally shoots his uncle Lou-Lou, who has moved to stop his bodyguard from shooting Kanan. Lou, bleeding, stares at his nephew before dropping him to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Raq rushes to him, but he dies in his sister’s arms. Make no mistake: This death sets the tone for the rest of Season 5, and Miller shared what it felt like to say goodbye to the character — and to Mays.
Patina Miller was heartbroken by Lou’s death in Raising Kanan. His character, Raq, will have to accept certain things.
Starz“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “This whole unit, we really love this material, and we love these characters. I feel like we were cast perfectly in these roles.” Miller shared that when Mays first got the role and before she knew who he was, he warmly reached out to her via direct message to greet her.
“We approached this with love, and he’s someone who is very dear to me,” Miller said of their work on the series. “I had such an incredible time with Malcolm on screen, and we were able to be safe for each other while acting, and some of my best work is with him as Lou-Lou. It was pretty devastating. I’ll say that.”
Viewers saw Raq and Lou’s relationship have its ups and downs, with him acting harsh or, at times, betraying his trust. As Lou’s older sister, Raq tended to be bossy, but this was tempered by protectiveness and love.
“This performance is a character saying goodbye to his brother, but it’s only real because of the love that I, Patina, have for Malcolm as a human. Not being able to finish this story with him was heartbreaking.”
She pointed out that we don’t know who will survive Power, and when she read the script for this episode, it hit her right in the heart. “Knowing that Lou-Lou was riding for Raq at the end and knowing the relationship and how much she loves him… it was devastating.” According to Miller, Lou’s death will affect the story in future episodes. “The link is broken. Someone is missing now.”
Showrunner and executive producer Sascha Penn explained how Lou-Lou’s death was a natural part of the show’s storytelling. “History kind of tells us what direction it wants to go,” he said, adding that it has evolved in its own way. “In the case of Raising Kanan, we always aimed to tell the origin story of this incredibly polarizing, scary, violent character. What are the things he did to make him this guy?”
Exploring this further guided how things played out in this final season, including Uncle Lou’s murder. “He didn’t start the way he finished,” Penn said of Kanan. “I think on some level, every piece of the story we tell answers that question, and this is just one piece of that answer.”
Kanan is on an even more destructive path in this final season of Raising Kanan.
StarzThis final season will become more raw and violent
When I spoke to the cast and Penn before the start of Season 5, a common theme kept coming up in our conversations: “The chickens are coming home to roost.”
The Thomases won’t just have to deal with their enemies in the streets: lies and secrets will be revealed as the show continues. “I think that’s what we’ll see in this final season,” Penn said. “All of these secrets that have been kept for too long, and again, the lies that have been perpetrated for too long, are really coming to the surface in a way that I find surprising, frightening and in some cases, violent. This is a family on the brink.”
Fans will see how this all plays out over the next seven episodes, but Penn said that ultimately he accomplished what he wanted with this series as a whole.
“I always thought it would be five seasons,” he said. “I really feel like I was able to tell the whole story of the Thomas family.”
As for Miller, she told me that this season we’ll see Raq “in his darkest form” and “his most volatile form.” Lou’s death isn’t necessarily the only catalyst, but it certainly contributes to what we see and how the series ends. Saying goodbye to Mays and the series was difficult for the star, but reflecting on reading the final script, she explained why she was excited for fans.
“I’ve been able to do some really, really wonderful things, and it’s an actor’s dream to be able to do what I’ve been able to do on this show,” Miller said. “So I didn’t want it to end. But I’m so happy with the way the story ended. And people might love it, they might hate it. I think they’ll be satisfied. I can’t wait for people to see it, but it was hard.”
Season 5 of Raising Kanan airs on Starz every Friday and will conclude its final run in August.
