“Raq isthatgirl,” Miller declares.
“Everybody else orbits around her.
She loves passionately but don’t cross her.
‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’.Starz
I don’t think we’ve met anyone like Raq in the universe.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your relationship toPowerbefore you were cast onKanan?
I think what’s drawn people in are the characters.
Mekai Curtis and Patina Miller in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’.Cara Howe/Starz
And it’s definitely realistic, there are people who have these lives.
We all kind of deal with that in some aspect.
When I got the audition, I didn’t know that it wasRaising Kanan.
I knew it was in thePowerworld, but they didn’t say what it was for.
Raq shows so many sides of herself in just that first episode.
I got really, really excited about the opportunity as an actress to be able to show that range.
For me, Black women on TV don’t really get to do that.
Sascha Penn, the creator of our show, created a phenomenal female lead character.
What I love is we’re all fighting for something.
Sometimes those worlds collide and there’s nothing you might do about it.
We just named a few of the many, manyPowercharacters who have left their mark.
So everybody else orbits around her.
She loves passionately but don’t cross her.
I don’t think we’ve met anyone like Raq in the universe.
Because Raq had Kanan at such a young age, their relationship is a bit different.
She raised Kanan herself, a child raising a child, so Kanan is her everything.
But Raq is trying to push him away to go do something else.
The whole season we’ll see the push and pull of that relationship.
At the core of it is a whole lot of love.
In addition to Kanan and her niece Jukebox, Raq is also surrounded by her brothers.
How would explain the entire family dynamic that we have at play onKanan?
He knows what he has to do.
Marvin’s the one who’s a little bit more wild and has to be watched at all times.
A lot of secrets, a lot of competition between them.
I did really enjoy the presence of London Brown, who was always good for a laugh onBallers.
And he carried that over here.
I am so proud and excited to work with a cast like this.
Everyone is just so amazing and they really brought everything to their characters.
From the beginning, we felt like a family.
But London is so wonderful.
He brings so much heart and so much character, and he’s so funny.
I thought everyone was great in the pilot, whether I’d seen them before or not.
Other than a stacked cast, what would be your pitch for whyKananwill be worth checking out?
Well, first off, it’s a fire show, I can go ahead and say that.
That’s basically howMekai answeredthat same question!
Like TV mother, like TV son.
The costumes are ridiculous, the music is ridiculous, and it really is a vibe.
And if you’re aPowerfan, this is where it all began.
You don’t want to miss that.
