"It became really big in a way" - When showrunner Sascha Penn reflected on how Power Book III delivered one of the franchise’s best stories

Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 3 aired from December 1, 2023, to February 9, 2024, with 10 episodes. The season was well-received, earning an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On February 9, 2024, creator Sascha Penn told People Magazine that the show had hit its stride in its third season.

"It became really big in a way that I didn't totally anticipate. Look, when Raising Kanan came out, it didn't have any of the original actors from Power. It was a period piece. It was an entirely new cast. Yes, we had these two characters — Kanan and Jukebox — but we had the adolescent versions of them."

He added:

"So I know early on there was some wariness about the show. People were like, 'What is this? Why are they even doing this? Who cares?'" I think what's happened is that by season 3, they finally have embraced it."

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A brief summary of Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 3

Raq starts Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 3 wanting to quit the drug-dealing business and make a fresh start in life. However, it's not long before she is pulled back into the game. In the first episode of the season, she has a fling with Unique but ends it to focus on her family drama. Raq spends the entire season trying to win her son's trust.

Furthermore, Juke is chosen to join the girl group Butta and falls in love with her fellow member, Iesha. Kanan and Famous's friendship strains to the point that the former throws him out of their house. Kanan gets close to Ronnie and starts dealing heroin despite his mother and Uncle Marvin's warnings about Ronnie.

In Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 3, Detective Malcolm Howard kills his colleague Shannon Burke to silence her. By the season’s end, his superiors and the FBI catch on to his crimes, forcing him to surrender his gun and badge.

Meanwhile, Unique's older brother, Ronnie, is released from prison and tries to sell drugs in the Southside. However, things don’t go as planned, leading to a violent clash between the brothers. Ronnie kills Unique with a metal pipe and dumps his body, believing him to be dead.

However, Unique returns in the climax of the season finale episode, after Kanan shoots Ronnie and Raq shoots Howard in the warehouse, and stands over Ronnie's dead body.

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Power Book III: Raising Kanan released its fourth season in 2025

The fourth season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan premiered on March 7, 2025, on the Starz network. The episode explained how Unique survived the deadly attack from his brother three months ago. After Ronnie dumped his body in a secluded area, Unique somehow managed to call Early Tyler for help from a payphone. Tyler took him to a vet clinic and looked after him as he slowly healed from his injuries over the next couple of months.

Also, Raq's brief dalliance with Unique in season 3 led to her getting pregnant. She decided to get an abortion as she could not afford to care for another child when things were so complicated with Kanan. The only person she confided in about her pregnancy was her niece, Juke.

Meanwhile, Kanan spent the episode as a regular teenager stressing over his schoolwork. For his school research project, he had to write about his grandfather Elijah, so he contacted all his family members, including his grandmother, for information. The only person he did not turn to was his mother, Raq. Kanan also learnt that his grandma Deen had cancer, but he was told to keep it a secret from others.

While recovering at Tyler's home, Unique sent him out to get a sense of the situation outside. With the information he received, Unique concluded that Kanan and Raq worked together to turn Ronnie against him. Tyler warned him about misunderstanding the situation, but he seemed convinced that Raq and Kanan need to be dealt with.

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The entire season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 3 is available to stream on the Starz app.