Welcome back to the Power Universe. The fourth season of the Starz hit Power Book III: Raising Kanan consists of ten episodes and is a spinoff-prequel created and written by Sascha Penn. The season continues to follow the 1990s New York City drug business ambitions of young Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) and his mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas (Patina Miller), whose relationship is both complex and influenced by the belief that family is everything within the narrative arc of the Power world. The main cast members returning for season 4 include Curtis, Miller, London Brown as Marvin Thomas, Malcolm Mays as Lou Thomas, and Hailey Kilgore as LaVerne “Jukebox” Thomas. Additionally, Wendell Pierce, Erika Woods, Tony Danza, Omar Epps, Joyce Thomas, Paul Ben-Victor, and Sibongile Mlambo are also part of the cast.

Opening Shot: The episode begins with the voiceover of series co-executive producer 50 Cent as the adult Kanan Stark in Power Book III: Raising Kanan, reflecting on the past by stating, “Before you can think about where you’re going, you gotta look back at where you been.” The season revisits the shocking deaths that concluded season 3.

The Gist: The fourth season of Raising Kanan picks up from where the previous season left off. The deaths of Ronnie Mathis (Grantham Coleman) and police detective Malcom Howard (Epps) were orchestrated by Raq (Miller) and Kanan (Curtis) for undisclosed reasons. However, the narrative takes a different perspective by flashing back three months before the tragic incident. Kadeem “Unique” Mathis (Joey Bada$$), who survived an attempt on his life, has emerged from a secret recovery with a thirst for vengeance as his primary motivation. In the present time within the series, Unique is obtaining crucial information for his retaliatory mission.

Of course this is unknown to Raq, Kanan, and the Thomas family. They are celebrating reduced scrutiny by an FBI task force snooping around the Queens, New York drug game, and a boom in business on the streets, fueled by the constant competition for increased corner coverage. But how a scarred and angry Unique will come at them – not only does he know Raq and Kanan killed his older brother Ronnie, he saw them kill Detective Howard, Kanan’s biological dad – is only one new wrinkle. Raq has also learned she is pregnant with Unique’s baby. “I ain’t got no room for another kid in my life,” she tells her doctor.

As for Raq’s relationship with Kanan, she says it doesn’t matter if he hates her. She’ll love him anyway, no matter what. It’s a mother-son commitment that exists partly outside of their respective professional goals, as that side of things continues to evolve. Kanan has also turned to his uncles Marvin (Brown) and Lou (Mays) for their insight into the family’s history, and when he interviews his grandmother Sharon (Thomas) for a school project, she shares a personal secret with only him. In Raising Kanan, family is both a uniter and a divider. Which Jukebox (Kilgore) also understands. She believes in Butta, her singing group with Iesha (Liv Symone), and Marvin encourages her talent. But Jukebox is also considering a big life decision that would remove her from her family’s immediate influence.

Some facts are known to some, not to others, and nobody knows everything. They just gotta work their lives from the inside, from their true nature. Which for Unique especially comes down to getting what he believes is his, the dreams and goals of others be damned. Kanan, Raq, Lou – they all better watch out. “You got a damn superpower right now,” says Unique’s friend Early (Chris Redd). “Everybody think you’re dead and gone.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Power Universe vibe check: Power Book IV: Force has declared its upcoming third season to be its last, Power Book II: Ghost ended in 2024, and the POWERs that be have also announced another prequel. Elsewhere, when Season 3 of the Starz crime drama BMF premiered last year, it was with the announcement of a fourth season that…remains only announced. Grantham Coleman of Raising Kanan has gone on to star in The Emperor of Ocean Park alongside Forest Whitaker. And Snowfall, with its throwback look at the cocaine drug wars of 1980s Los Angeles, aired its sixth and final season on FX in 2023.    

Our Take: The return of Joey Bada$$ to Power Book III Raising Kanan as Kadeem “Unique” Mathis is huge for the series in season 4, and not just as a professional rival to the drug business aims of Raq and Kanan. He is also all the way up inside their family dynamic. “They all workin’ together against me,” he tells Early as he nurses his wounds in secret. But the emotion Bada$$ puts into the scene is notable. Vengeance drives Unique, but that is only one dimension compared to what’s underneath, where someone who repeatedly tried to kill him – Raq – can also be his lover. We’re intrigued with how Raising Kanan explores this, especially since Raquel herself, even without knowing ‘Nique survived, gets a faraway look in her eye when she considers their history together. 

Ultimately, this series is meant to fill in a backstory important to the Power universe. It’s called Raising Kanan, after all. And in Season 4, while Raq’s relationship with Kanan contains both promise and peril, Kanan’s exploration of where he personally fits into his larger family history broadens the scope of what we’re learning about the character. (“Capable, skilled, and brilliant,” his grandma says of his late grandfather. “Just like you.”) Power Book III: Raising Kanan is at its best when it shifts perspectives. When its characters see something with fresh eyes, so that we also see it. And then we can fit that data into the larger Power universe, which just keeps expanding. As the prequels and sequels and prequel/spinoff hybrids continue, we feel like all of this will fit nicely together in a massive multi-series rewatch. Or, a true saga of Power.

Sex and Skin: As Season 4 of Raising Kanan gets underway, one big theme is how romances from the past have a way of rising back up. The return of Natalee Linez as Jessica Figueroa, Lou’s ex, embodies this. 

Parting Shot: “Knowin’ about the lies and dying? That ain’t no way to live.” The adult Kanan’s narration guides us back to the events that began season 4’s lead episode. From here on out, it seems those who thought they had all the answers might just learn how they asked all the wrong questions.

Sleeper Star: The period detail in Raising Kanan continues to stand out, from brands sported – Polo, United Colors of Benetton, Karl Kani signature T’s – and music cues – Eric B. & Rakim’s 1992 single “Casualties of War” feels thematically prescient – to the state of how people communicated in, ahem, antiquity: pagers, pay phones, and fixed landlines.     

Most Pilot-y Line: “Every debt I owe is gonna get paid. Every fucking one.” Without tracking in spoilers, when it comes to this character, it’s a matter of how said debt will be paid. In ducats? Or in lead? 

Our Call: Stream It! With season 4 of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, the Power Universe continues to spool. As a prequel, the series has a highly watchable standalone quality. But it also works great as a spinoff, continuing to add chapters of lore to the universal whole. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.