[This story contains major spoilers from the season four finale of Power Book III: Raising Kanan.]

It’s been an intense ride for Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Starz’s other spinoff series from its massive network redefining Power franchise launched in 2021. Unlike Power Book II: Ghost which was a continuation in the aftermath of Ghost’s death and the departure of Omari Hardwick, prequel Raising Kanan was charged with exploring a younger Kanan, the character Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson played in the flagship of the Power franchise that he and co-creator Courtney Kemp launched in 2014.

In the series spearheaded by showrunner Sascha Penn is a backstory that sought to explain how Kanan became the monster fans saw in the original. That meant bringing in Mekai Curtis as 15-year-old Kanan to play opposite Tony winner Patina Miller as his ambitious, drug-dealing mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas, who led the family drug business with her older brother, Marvin (London Miller) and youngest brother Lou or Lou-Lou (Malcolm Mays). Jukebox (Hailey Kilgore), Marvin’s daughter, rounded out the core family. 

Raq has been fighting for Kanan, who joined the family business on his own, to overlook her wrongs and love her unconditionally the way she claims she loves him. She shockingly ended season three by unexpectedly shooting Kanan’s biological father, cop Malcolm Howard portrayed by Omar Epps, in the head when they came together to supposedly rescue him from his presumed kidnapper. It was a relation Kanan only found out about after growing up believing DefCon, a legend in the drug game, was his father. He had to keep quiet, because having a cop as a father, even a dirty one, is bad for business in their trade. 

Kanan killing Ronnie (Grantham Coleman), older brother to Joey Bada$$’s character Unique, was the other shocker. While fans rightly concluded Unique was dead, he resurfaced at the tail-end of season three. So season four led off with how Raq’s one-time rival turned lover, with whom she found out fathered the child she aborted this season, cheated death. Nursed back to health by his associate and friend Early (Chris Redd), Unique is not the same easygoing person he was before and is determined to get revenge against Raq, who he is convinced played a critical role in his planned death at the hands of his brother Ronnie before she also turned on him. 

In addition to Unique taking out Raq’s many business associates, her other connect Stefano, a surprising addition of Tony Danza in season three, got stabbed and may not make it. Lou continued his mental health battle and came out on the other side, but the storyline allowed the series to acknowledge his father’s suicide and expose some of the collective family trauma and baggage Raq and her brother’s still carry. Their mother Joyce’s (Sharon Washington) battle with cancer resulted in Raq, not Lou or Marvin, successfully honoring her request to help end her life and the pain. 

On the other side of that, Kanan, in the throes of love with live-in girlfriend Krystal (Aliyah Turner), tragically loses her after she goes missing and blames his mother. Famous (Antonio Ortiz), who has been like a brother to him since the series started, went missing and then turned up dead just before Krystal. In both instances, Kanan became convinced his mother Raq was responsible. No matter how many times Raq denied it, he wouldn’t take no for an answer and got his cousin Juke, who has consistently been very close to her aunt, believing it’s possible as well.

All these factor played into a suspenseful ending that may indeed finally be the end of matriarch queenpin Raq, who Power fans have known died when Kanan was young but never knew how. The implication that Kanan himself could have killed his own mother has people buzzing. To answer this critical question and many others from season four — along with some intel on what we now know will be the fifth and final season — creator-showrunner Penn and the powerhouse Miller speak with The Hollywood Reporter below.

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Sascha, what did you set out to accomplish in season four?

SASCHA PENN When I first started thinking about what would be our darkest season to date, it felt like this was the season that really started to take A definitive step towards the character that Kanan becomes in Power. That was always going to be a big part of the season. I also think these characters, Jukebox and Kanan, are getting older; they’re seeing things, maybe with different eyes, and starting to notice stuff they didn’t before. Some of Raq’s invincibility is starting to crack. That was where we were headed in season four with more strain and strife within the family and that was all very important to the story we were telling, and specifically in this moment for this penultimate season. I think the season delivers on that. It ends in a pretty dramatic way and ultimately delivers on this fracture within the Thomas family, and specifically between Raq and Kanan.

So Patina, how did you approach this season? Where had Raq been, and where is she towards the end? 

PATINA MILLER Like I approach every season, which is trying to see what’s new. Raq is in this place where she’s been able to solve a lot of things, right? She’s always been really good at that, and this season is different, because you get to watch her be vulnerable in a way she’s never been before. Things are starting to get to her more. There are chinks in the armor that become more apparent this season.

How does she change to hide that? I’ve had four incredible seasons to be able to craft this character and to tell the story, and I’ve really felt like there’s been so many different changes with her every season. I remember asking Sascha every season what’s new this year, and that excites me as an actor. So I went in with honesty, humanity and tried to get to whatever Raquel’s truth was. And it sucks that it ended in that way. But this is what it had to be.

Was it hard, especially since it seems like every single thing this season was Raq’s fault?

MILLER As a woman, I was like, “Oh my God, everything is her fault,” when it’s actually the one season where she actually didn’t do what everyone’s saying she did, right? She’s really just trying to grow her business. She wants to be a supplier because she’s tired of all the men in her life in that way. It sucks that this had to be, but that’s the game. And it’s the game that she was ready to play. She knows what it is.

PENN I would add that she’s earned that smoke because she has lied so much and betrayed people that she purportedly loves in really profound ways. Patina and I were having a conversation earlier this morning about a lot of the stuff online and from various fans [like], “Kanan is so dumb and why doesn’t he believe Raq?” Well, why would he believe Raq? Why would he not look at what she’s done to him? And the truth is that Kanan is 17 years old; of course he’s dumb. I often say the smartest thing Kanan does is not believe Raq because of their history. Kanan is a kid. He hasn’t even developed the part of his brain that governs his executive function. Look at what he’s been through. Based on the evidence in front of him, I don’t think it’s remotely illogical for him to think his mother’s behind it because she’s been behind everything up to this point.

With that said, can you talk about the impact of Famous and Krystal being killed. What does that do to Kanan? Are we seeing him enter the dark phase since Famous has been like a brother to him, and he had his real first romance with Krystal?

PENN What he says in that final scene with Raq is very real, which is it feels to him like she doesn’t want him to have anyone but her. He really feels like everything that’s good in his life, she’s going to take away from him, and he can’t protect these people that are closest to him. And yes, he’s operating off bad information in this moment, yet, at the same time, look at what she did to his father. Look at what she did to D-Wiz (Nile Bullock). So, again, his information may not be entirely correct, but his experience is. I think the deaths of Famous and Krystal feel, in some respect, like the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, which is, “I’m destined to be alone because of her, because she doesn’t want me to have anyone but her.” I think when he says that, that’s a real thing, and I can understand why he’d feel that way.

Patina, we saw Raq go through an abortion for the child she conceived with Unique who, at the time, she believed was dead, and, in that moment, she and Jukebox were so close, and then in some of last scenes of season four Juke appears to have abandoned her and even reads her a bit. How are you playing Raq’s emotions as her and Juke’s relationship moves from close to strained?

MILLER I think Raq, in that moment, is shocked and devastated that Juke wouldn’t be on her side, and that Juke wouldn’t necessarily believe she didn’t have anything to do with [Famous and Krystal’s deaths]. Raq has been there for Juke throughout the series, so I think it feels like a betrayal from Raq’s point of view. Like, how could you think I would do something like this? I think she feels really alone because Juke has always been the person she’s been able to come to and really be herself with. I think she’s pissed off when you see her in the diner with Jukebox, it’s unsettling.

PENN I would add that it’s not lost on Raq that Juke is the closest person to Kanan. So certainly, if she’s lost Juke, she’s lost Kanan, right? Especially since Jukebox has been her sort of access point to Kanan throughout their relationship and she has used Jukebox to keep eyes on Kanan. So to feel that from Jukebox, who has idolized Raq and, in many respects, modeled herself after Raq, to lose her is almost like losing everything.

Juke essentially says to Raq, “You say you love me, but you’re really trying to get to Kanan.” But, since we’re on Juke, can you talk about she tells her could-be girlfriend Aisha that she won’t leave New York for Spelman in Atlanta because her father Marvin (London Brown) has accepted her and her sexuality, and she wants to be here for him?

PENN One of the toughest scenes we’ve ever shot on this series was the scene, I think in episode eight of the first season, when Marvin assaults his daughter because he discovers she’s gay. There was a lot of conversation at that time about whether we could ever redeem Marvin from that, about whether Juke could ever forgive him [and] whether he could ever forgive himself, [and if] that relationship was in any way salvageable.

I had this conversation quite a bit with London Brown, who plays Marvin spectacularly. And it’s a testament to London’s work, frankly, that we were able to show that this character was capable of real profound change, and, even more important, that his daughter was able to see, recognize and acknowledge the change that he’s made, and how powerful that is for a father and daughter, a parent and a child, to do that. It’s so hard to change. But if you do that for your kid, that’s just an incredible act of love, right? And a lot of parents aren’t capable of that, but Marvin is. For me, it’s one of the most satisfying parts of Raising Kanan. 

What does the advent of Breeze, who we know about from Power from Kanan, Ghost and Tommy, played by Shameik Moore bring to the mix? What are we expecting in season five with that kind of explosive addition?

PENN Breeze always existed as almost this mythical character in the original Power where there’s been [arguably] more speculation about this character than any in the Power universe, right? Because he’s always been billed as the guy who taught Kanan, Ghost and Tommy the game, and he was seen as this incredibly charismatic and brilliant presence in all their lives, and then there was this betrayal, there’s a lot of weight hanging on this character in this role. It’s a character I really wanted to explore in Raising Kanan and I talked to Courtney and 50 about it quite a bit.

I won’t lie, I’m sure that the introduction of the character is going to be incredibly polarizing, once again, for our fanbase simply because everyone has it in their own heads of who this character is and what he looks like. It’s always hard when you cast someone in that role, and everyone has their own idea of them in their imagination. His story is a story that I felt we needed to tell. And not just for the fanbase, but also because he is a seminal character as it relates to Kanan, Ghost and Tommy. We introduce him in the finale, but you’ll definitely see him in season five, and you’ll see how he influences Kanan, and also sort of teaches Kanan along the way.

Unique reemerged after viewers thought he was dead and, in this season, Joey Bada$$ really took this Lazarus version of Unique to places of darkness that we didn’t associate with this character before, because Unique was that guy who got along with everybody even though he was in this dirty business. And now he’s focused on Raq’s downfall.

PENN I’ll start, and then I’ll hand it to you Patina. It was important if we brought Unique back, based on what he’d been through, and being betrayed by his brother Ronnie (Grantham Coleman), that he would be different. And he’s different for a couple reasons. One is because of these betrayals, but also because of the physical damage that’s been done to his brain. So that was always going to be part of his re-emergence in that this was a slightly different guy than we had seen before, and maybe scarier and less predictable.

Joey is obviously a spectacular actor, and he’s done a remarkable job manifesting this new version of Unique. In terms of the stories that we’re telling this season, one of the themes is people making decisions based on incomplete information, and Unique functions in that capacity. That feels very real when you exist in a world of people that you don’t trust and you’re forced to make decisions on your own because of all the second guessing of all the information you’re getting. That’s kind of Unique’s experience just like Kanan’s.

It’s interesting how those two experiences mirror each other. They both are making big decisions based on limited and, in some cases, faulty information. But the one thing they absolutely agree on at all times in this season is that Raq is behind everything and that’s real common ground. Blaming her for everything is probably a pretty safe bet. And that’s sort of what’s interesting about Unique’s character this season.

MILLER What could I add to that? That’s a mic drop. Yes to everything you said.

On your end, Patina, we’ve seen Raq and Unique have this relationship where there was tenderness and now there’s hatred with no love lost at all, and they are like mortal enemies.

MILLER I don’t know if they’re mortal enemies. I think, in order for [the story] to be compelling, between the two characters, there has to be some sort of love festering underneath all that hate. Because, why else would you do it? He doesn’t really want Raq to be the one [who betrayed him] but that’s the only thing that he can go off of. And, for her, it’s like he’s back, and this is someone she had a connection with, even though maybe it wouldn’t have amounted to anything, there is some sort of love there that is shared. But they just can’t be those two people at this point, and they have to go back to this kind of crazy, unpredictable relationship in which the two of them are comfortable since they were foes in the beginning, right?

Raquel doesn’t want this to be true. She doesn’t want to have to go to war with Unique. She tells Marvin not to jump him. She keeps trying to not do it until she realizes, “Okay, I have to do this. We have to go to war.” There’s [this feeling of], “I’m going to lose everything if I don’t do this.” So I don’t think it’s all out of hate. Sascha, correct me if I’m wrong, but there has to be some sort of fire, some sort of love, whatever you call it, underneath all of that, to make it exciting, to make the relationship in this new way what it is.

PENN I think that’s totally right. One of the reasons why that relationship, when it was romantic, was so explosive is because they are so similar. And one of the ways in which they’re similar is that they’re survivors at all costs. Part of being a survivor for each of them is they will turn on anyone as quickly as someone turns on them. They are not sentimental people and that is, in some ways, their superpower, right? Which is, they are not sentimentalists. If they feel like someone has wronged them, that person is dead to them.

Now, in the case of Raq, there is an exception to that rule, which is her son, right? That’s why he’s her Achilles’ heel, and that’s why he’ll always be her Achilles’ heel, and that’s, on some level, the engine of our whole series. But when it comes to other people, that’s where Raq and Unique are very, very similar, and I think that’s why it hurts that much more when they each feel betrayed by the other because they saw something in each other that felt right, that felt like a connection, but that’s the very thing that pushes them apart as well. When you exist in a world where you can trust no one, the only person you can trust is your yourself, and, in some instances, that’s the last person you should fucking trust.

Why does everybody seem to trust Snaps (Wendell Pierce) and Pop (Erika Woods)?

PENN I don’t know that everybody trusts them; I think people just don’t suspect them. When you’re younger, you think you know everything, and you think all the old heads have been put out to pasture. “What the fuck do they know? They’re harmless.” That’s how everyone sees Snaps and Pop, like those guys just sit over there at their restaurant and bar, and just hang out. Raq has suspicions, but I don’t think those suspicions have yet risen to the point of thinking these guys are actually pulling strings. Over time, I think it’s possible that people will start to see Snaps and Pop differently. People underestimate them.

Okay, we’ve been alluding to the very last scene of this season when Kanan confronts Raq at gunpoint and they argue and it seems like he shot his mother. Did Kanan kill Raq at the end of this season? And what is this thing that Power a la Tariq and Ghost have about the kids killing off their parents?

PENN I can’t speak to all of Power. What I would say in general is that we all have complicated relationships with our parents. Not nearly as complicated as Kanan’s relationship with Raq, but we do have complicated relationships, and it’s a very, very… how should I put it… fraught dynamic that exists between parent and child and child and parent. That’s one of the things we work out across these four seasons of Raising Kanan. As far as [the question of] “Does Kanan kill Raq?” We all heard the gunshot. That’s all that I’ll say.

But look, whether Raq is in the next season or not, I think her presence will always be felt across this series in season five as much as it was felt in season one. Raq has left her mark on these characters and these stories in a way that even if she isn’t there, she’s there. And that’s, frankly, part of the fun of season five. Part of what’s interesting about season five is really seeing Raq’s impact across every character in this series, and I’m excited for people to see it.

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The Power Book III: Raising Kanan season three finale is now streaming on Starz.com and the Starz app, and will air on Starz at 8 p.m. ET.