“Raising Kanan” star Patina Miller on the danger Raquel and Kanan face in season 3

"Raising Kanan" star Patina Miller previews how Raquel will navigate the fractured relationship with her son in season 3.

Raising Kanan is picking up right where it left off.

After nearly being killed during an attack by the Mafia in the season 2 finale, queenpin Raquel Thomas (Patina Miller) will face a mountain of problems when the show returns. Not only must she contend with the dead bodies at her home, including Jukebox’s (Hailey Kilgore) mother, and the folks who tried to kill her people, but also the fact that her son Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) knows Detective Malcolm Howard (Omar Epps) is actually his father. “Viewers get to watch her deal with the fallout in real time,” star Patina Miller previews.

Kanan knows what Howard and Raq have been hiding and this mother-son bond couldn't have broken at a worse time. "The secret affects them all separately and together, so they have to work as a family while dealing with their issues,” Miller says. “[Raq] knows she doesn’t have Kanan anymore, but she’s still trying to parent him.”

And it's that relationship that Miller focuses on whenever she gets a script. “She’s this big boss, but making sure her son is connected to her is always the biggest goal for her,” she says. With Kanan aware of her manipulation and lies, Raq doesn’t have her usual grasp on her son when she needs it most. Season 3 is about regaining that trust, which Miller admits may be difficult. “Kanan is a man now and so this season [Raq] is terrified because she is actually really lonely for the first time,” she shares.

The ruthless businesswoman will find solace in an unlikely place this season: former rival Unique (Joey Bada$$). “He serves at this moment as a place where she can be herself," Miller says. "He’s [a] comfort in this weird way." Despite the fact that they have tried to kill each other in the past, it seems being on the receiving end of the Mafia’s latest strike provides an opportunity for them to lean on each other.

But don't expect Raq to take a similar approach with her brother Lou-Lou (Malcolm Mays). “If you think about it, Raq raised Lou, so in a sense, having distance from Lou and Kanan is hard, but [he’s] not the priority,” Miller explains.

With her focus on fixing things with Kanan, Raq is looking at life differently this season. “Seeing her life flash before her eyes, she has this big plan of, 'I’m gonna give it all up,'” Miller says. “One of things is deciding it’s not worth it and her wanting to clean up her act." If her commitment to doing right by Kanan means “going straight,” then Raq will also have to deal with the far less exciting life of regular people and there’s the question of whether she can make that work, especially given what we know about who Kanan becomes.

Raising Kanan returns for season 3 on Friday, Dec. 1, on Starz.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Your guide to 2024 TV premiere dates

• Watch Raising Kanan cast talk 50 Cent, the '90s, and bringing a 'new edge' to the Power Universe

• Omar Epps shares an excerpt from his dystopian novel Nubia: The Reckoning
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.