Mekai Curtis To Play Young Kanan Stark In ‘Power’ Prequel ‘Raising Kanan’ On Starz; Rob Hardy To Direct

Denise Petski
·2-min read

Click here to read the full article.

Mekai Curtis is set to star as young Kanan Stark alongside Patina Miller in Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Starz/Lionsgate’s upcoming Power prequel series. Additionally, Rob Hardy (All American, Power) is set to direct the pilot and executive produce.

Smart, driven and still naïve, Kanan’s world revolves around his mother, Raq (Miller), who raised him by herself. She is his everything. At the same time, he is beginning to get a sense of not only the world around him but his place in said world. Kanan wants to be just like his mother — and that’s the problem. He’s young and wide-eyed and doesn’t know how the hustle works. And even more important, his mother is not nearly as keen as he is for him to follow in her footsteps. Theirs is a complicated relationship that only gets more problematic as time goes on.

More from Deadline

The third chapter of the Courtney A. Kemp-created Power franchise, Power Book III: Raising Kanan is a prequel that takes viewers back to the ‘90s and the early years of the now-deceased iconic Power character Kanan Stark, portrayed in the original series by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

2020 Starz Pilots & Series Orders

Power Book III: Raising Kanan is executive produced by Kemp through her company End of Episode and Jackson through his G-Unit Film and Television. Sascha Penn serves as showrunner and executive producer. Also executive producing are Mark Canton through his Atmosphere Entertainment MM, End of Episode’s Chris Selak and Danielle DeJesus, Shana Stein, Bart Wenrich and Kevin Fox with Hardy executive producing and directing the premiere episode. Lionsgate TV produces the series for Starz.

Curtis is known for his role as Fish Fisher in Disney XD’s Kirby Buckets and as Paul Dunphy in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He most recently voiced the role of Zack in Milo Murphy’s Law.

Hardy directed the pilot for All American, which was recently renewed by The CW for a third season. His other directing credits include Power (Starz), Prodigal Son (Fox), Evil (CBS), Shameless (Showtime) and Black-ish (ABC), among others. He also executive produced and developed the BET scripted series The Quad, which ran for two seasons. Hardy is repped by Verve, manager Adam Robinson and attorney John V. Meigs.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories