The cast and creator of Power Book III: Raising Kanan sat down with Where Is The Buzz ahead of the STARZ series’ fifth and final season, promising fans an emotional, surprising, and satisfying conclusion to a story five years in the making.
Showrunner Sascha Penn, series lead MeKai Curtis, and co-stars London Brown, Tony Danza, Shameik Moore, and Erika Woods spoke candidly about the pressure of ending a beloved franchise, the creative process behind the show, and what audiences can expect in the final chapter.
Sascha Penn: ‘I Want to Make Sure It Was Worth It’
Penn, who created, executive produces, and showruns the series, said he feels the weight of delivering a finale worthy of the loyal fan base that has followed the show since its debut.
“It’s the final season. I want to make sure that everyone feels like they got what they wanted out of the series,” Penn said. “By the time they’ve watched the eighth episode of Season 5, they’ve watched 48 hours of television, two days of their lives that they’ve given over to the show. I want to make sure that it was worth it for them.”
Penn said he struck a careful balance between satisfying fan expectations and honoring his own creative vision.
“I also want to tell the story that I want to tell and not feel pressure from external sources,” he said. “I created Raising Kanan, and this is what it is.”
The showrunner noted that the series evolved significantly from its original pitch seven years ago, with much of that evolution driven by the actors themselves.
“Patina Miller is an expert on Raquel. MeKai Curtis is an expert on Kanan,” Penn said. “They’ve absorbed these characters into their DNA in a way that I haven’t. I created the characters, I wrote them, but they understand them in a different way. I’d be crazy not to listen to their thoughts and intuitions.”
MeKai Curtis: Present, Alert, and Committed
Curtis, who plays the series’ titular character Kanan Stark, said his preparation for the role began with an obsessive deep dive into Penn’s original vision.
“I kind of locked myself in a room and really tried to understand just the script,” Curtis said. “Sasha had also given me a breakdown, a pitch bible of what the show was going to be, what we were trying to aim for. I read it, and I read it, and I read it.”
Now in his fifth season, Curtis described his character’s journey as an organic arc that has challenged him as an artist.
“Change is good. Change happens, and it happens via the things you experience,” he said. “You don’t just wake up one day and hate tomatoes or something like that. There’s something that you ran into that let you know not to mess with tomatoes anymore. It’s that same sort of thing with the show and with the character.”
Curtis was clear that he drew an intentional line when it came to method acting.
“Didn’t do any method acting, luckily,” he said with a laugh. “This is one of those ones that it gets a little tricky if you let yourself get too far.”
For aspiring actors, Curtis offered straightforward advice: “Stay open, stay alert, stay present. Stay looking to get better every day. You say the words, but that’s 20 to 30 percent of the work. You have to give that same level of attentiveness to whoever you’re in the scene with.”
London Brown: The Writers Made It Easy
Brown, who plays the fan-favorite Uncle Marvin Thomas, said the quality of the writing this season made the cast’s job clear.
“Shout out to showrunner Sasha Penn,” Brown said. “You could tell that these stories were really thought out and flushed out. So by the time we as actors picked it up, all we had to do was make sure we did our due diligence, bringing the words off the page and bringing life to them.”
Brown also teased a subtle recurring motif that eagle-eyed fans may want to watch for throughout Season 5.
“When you see Marvin with a sucker, it’s usually because he’s going to be seeking vengeance somewhere,” Brown revealed. “The sucker is to say that revenge is sweet. He’s holding people accountable when you see him with that sucker. That’s always the case.”
Brown added that he is particularly moved by the show’s audience’s loyalty heading into the finale.
“Not a lot of spin-offs have success,” he said. “I’m glad that you guys were able to give us a chance and let us find it and discover it with you. You do some good work, the fans will stick with you.”
Tony Danza: Big Surprises Are Coming
Tony Danza, who plays Italian mob boss Stefano Marchetti, said he drew inspiration for the role from a real person close to him.
“I have an uncle, his name is Philly Capaso,” Danza said, laughing. “The way he moved and the way he talked and the way he drove, just the way he was. I would think about him. My uncle Phil.”
Danza described table reads for the final season as genuinely shocking for the entire cast.
“When we would read the scripts together before we started shooting, all you’d hear would be people going, ‘I can’t, you’ve got to be kidding. What? No,” he recalled. “So I can’t wait for the audience to see it. I think it’s going to be, as you said, epic.”
As for his character’s worldview, Danza said Marchetti operates from a default position of suspicion.
“He starts off from that place, you might earn some trust over time, but initially, I don’t trust anybody,” Danza said. “He adheres to rules very strongly. He’s got to do it this way because it’s done this way. But he’s adaptive, and ruthless when needed.”
Danza also spoke about his youth acting program, the Stars of Tomorrow Project, which provides free acting training to high school students in New York City.
“When you teach a kid how to act, the thing we really try to teach is how to be part of something bigger than yourself,” he said. “And that’s what you do when you step on our set.”
Erika Woods and Shameik Moore: Legacy and Loose Ends
Woods, who plays Pop, described her character in Season 5 as a decisive, protective matriarch operating with purpose.
“She’s tying up loose ends,” Woods said. “She really cares for her family at the end of the day. I want the fans to see how strong she is and how decisive what a boss she is. Sometimes women sit back, and they’re quiet, but they’re really the strength behind their husband or enterprises or their family.”
Woods said landing the role was a transformative moment in her career.
“I’ve always played cops or lawyers or nurses, and to enter into this character I was like, ‘Oh, okay,'” she said. “I wanted her to do everything with a smile. Those are some of the most formidable people I know. I was so excited to bring that to this universe.”
Moore, who plays the enigmatic Branford “Breeze” Frady, said he shaped his performance around the original Poweruniverse’s legacy characters, specifically Omari Hardwick’s Ghost.
“Omari Hardwick and his performance as Ghost had a lot to do with my interpretation of Breeze. Same thing with Tommy and Kanan from the original Power,” Moore said. “These are the characters that these kids will grow up to be after they get me out of the way. I got to be the guy that embodies all of these characters.”
Moore said the connective tissue of his performance goes beyond surface charisma.
“Before any lines, before any charisma, it’s intentionality,” he said. “The DNA inside of Breeze is just Omari Hardwick was my north star. I wanted to play a character that tied in his performance and why people even love him to begin with.”
Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 5 airs on STARZ.
