[This story contains spoilers for the season four finale of Power Book III: Raising Kanan.]
Power Book III: Raising Kanan season four just came to a close, but the previously announced season five is around the corner. To that end, we’ve got some good news and some bad news.
The good: Shameik Moore has been cast as Branford “Breeze” Frady. The fans have been waiting on that one.
The bad: Power Book III: Raising Kanan season five will be its last.
OK maybe it’s not so bad; showrunner Sascha Penn says this was “always” his “intention.”
“It was always my intention that Raising Kanan would run for five seasons, and thanks to my friends and partners at Starz and Lionsgate, as well as the incredible cast, crew and writing staff, I’ve been able to tell the entirety of the story I set out to tell way back in 2019,” Penn said. “Having said that, with the table we’ve set in this season finale and the inevitable introduction of Breeze, there is still an exceptionally intense and action-packed season left for the viewers to experience, and I assure you that the stakes for Kanan and the entire Thomas family have never been higher.”
“I’m very proud of this series,” he continued, “and grateful that we’ve been able to see it through to what is an incredibly explosive and satisfying conclusion for the unbelievably loyal fans of the Power Universe.”
Moore is pretty excited for it too.
“The Power Universe fans have been patiently anticipating this moment and I’m honored to step into the iconic role of Breeze,” he said in a statement. “I jumped into a story that is already alive with such strong characters, but it was a fun challenge to find Breeze’s unique identity, and I can’t wait for fans to see how Breeze will shift dynamics in the story. It’s gonna be a wild ride.”
The name of Moore’s character, a drug kingpin from Jamaica, Queens, has been out there in said Power universe since the very first season of the OG Power back in 2014. We learned back then that a young Kanan Stark worked for the mysterious Breeze, as did James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora). Well, in the season four finale of prequel series Raising Kanan, our young Kanan (MeKai Curtis) finally meets Breeze through street legends (and Kanan’s aunt and uncle) Snaps (Wendell Pierce) and Pop (Erika Woods).
Season four of Raising Kanan found Kanan reluctantly entering into a truce with his mother, drug queenpin Raquel “Raq” Thomas (Patina Miller).
“With Unique (Joey Bada$$) back from the dead and pulling strings from the shadows, the hesitant trust between mother and son didn’t last long, and their volatile relationship was tested once again, leading to another dramatic showdown in the season finale,” in Starz’s words.
In addition to Miller, Curtis, Bada$$, Pierce and Woods, Power Book III: Raising Kanan stars London Brown, Malcolm Mays, Hailey Kilgore and Tony Danza.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan is the second Power spinoff, behind only Power Book II: Ghost. Courtney A. Kemp created the original Power with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Mark Canton. Along with those three, Chris Selak and Kevin Fox also serve as executive producers on the franchise. Lionsgate Television produces Power Book III: Raising Kanan for Starz.