USA TODAY explores Kanan’s transformation in ‘Power: Origins’
USA TODAY’s Taylor Ardrey explores Kanan’s character with star, Mekai Curtis, and creator, Sascha Penn, in the new “Power: Origins” series.
Editor’s note: This story includes minor spoilers about the “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” Season 5 finale.
Tommy, Ghost, and Kanan are finally back in the same room years after “Power” ended.
In the Season 5 finale of “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” a spinoff of the original series, an adolescent Tommy and Ghost approach Kanan about getting involved in the drug game.
“It’s something we always were always planning on doing, introducing them as young guys. They could never be a part of the story because this is not a story that lives with 12- and 13-year-olds really…and in the ‘Power’ mythology, they are not in the game until a little bit later,” Sascha Penn, the series creator, tells USA TODAY. “I did think it was important to sort of tease them.”
The newest prequel in the Power Universe, “Power: Origins”will dive deeper into the beginning of Tommy and Ghost’s journey. “I thought it was a nice Easter Egg for the ‘Power’ fans,” Penn continued, speaking about the highly anticipated cameo.
Here’s what we know about “Power: Origins” so far.
When does ‘Power: Origins’ premiere?
There is no official premiere date for “Power: Origins” at the time of publication. However, the Power Universe Instagram page announced Aug. 4 that the show has wrapped filming.
How many episodes will be in Season 1?
According to Starz, Season 1 will have 18 episodes.
How will Kanan be depicted in ‘Origins’ after ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’?
Kanan Stark, played by Mekai Curtis, will return for the highly anticipated installment. Curtis teased that “Origins” will explore how the once innocent teen turned drug lord acts after the deadly demise of his family members.
“This character is coming from a world where he’s doing everything, either in spite of or in inspiration of his mother, and now that has been taken off the table, how does he interact and interface with the rest of the world when the one thing he genuinely did care about is gone?” the actor said.
Penn chimed in, “He starts to seem a lot more like the Kanan you knew and maybe didn’t love in ‘Power.’ He’s definitely evolved. He’s no longer moored or anchored to his family. They are no longer his moral compass. There is no moral compass for him. So, he really, I would say, occupies a true bad guy role in ‘Origins’ but still complex in his own interesting ways.”
How will the tone of ‘Origins’ be different than other shows in the Power Universe? It’s more ‘funny,’ creator says
The tone of “Power: Origins” will feel different from “Power” and “Raising Kanan” – both of which lean into being dark and gritty, according to Penn.
“It’s more fun. It’s more funny,” Penn explained. “It’s almost like we used ’48 Hours’ or ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ as sort of like our touchstones in terms of what we were aiming for tonally. The two actors we scoured the world for to discover our Tommy and Ghost are spectacular. Spence Moore and Charlie Mann are just incredible. The trio of them with Mekai just explodes off the screen.”
He continued, “I think what fans could expect is a lot of what they always had with ‘Power,’ which is action, intrigue, some soapiness, but I also think there’s a little bit more levity in this one than there was in ‘Raising Kanan.'”
‘Power Origins’ cast
- Spence Moore as Ghost
- Charlie Mann as Tommy
- Mekai Curtis as Kanan Stark
- Nadia Dajani as Teresa Boselli
- Jennifer Ferrin as Kate Egan
- Jason Dirden as Traymont Stinson
- Lizzy DeClement as Jill Wexler
- Lenny Platt as Lenny Seidell
- Armani Gabriel as J-Boogs
- Everett Osborne as Omay Moreau
- Zuri Reed as Tasha
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@usatodayco.com.