‘Devastating’: ‘Raising Kanan’ Stars Patina Miller, Sascha Penn Break Shocking Death
This article contains spoilers for the first season 5 of Power Book III: Raising Kanan.
Fans have always known that Kanan Stark was single, but in the closing season Book of Power III: Raising Kananit is now clear how he got there. The series ended its fourth season with a blank screen and a gunshot, leaving viewers wondering if Kanan (MeKai Curtis) shot his mother, Raq (Patina Miller), or if something else happened behind their argument.
Now back with the premiere of its fifth and final season, the show sealed the fate of one of its characters, Lou Thomas, played by Malcolm Mays. In a gut-wrenching scene, Kanan accidentally shoots his Uncle Lou-Lou, who moves to stop his bodyguard from shooting at Kanan. Lou, bleeding, stares at his nephew before collapsing to the floor. In a blink, Raq rushes to her, but dies in her sister’s arms. Make no mistake: This death sets the tone for the rest of season 5, and Miller shared how she felt about saying goodbye to the character — and Mays.
Patina Miller was saddened by Lou’s death in Raining Kanan. His character, Raq, will have to accept some things.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “This whole unit — we really love this thing, and we love these actors. I feel like we’re very well cast in these roles.” Miller shared that when Mays first got the role and before he even knew who she was, he reached out to her with a direct message to say hello.
“We went into it with love, and he’s my favorite person,” Miller said of their work on the series. “I had some amazing moments with Malcolm on screen, and we were able to be safe to play, and one of my best jobs is playing Lou-Lou with him. It was very painful. I will say that.”
Viewers have seen the relationship between Raq and Lou have its ups and downs, as he behaves harshly or, at times, betrays her trust. As Lou’s older sister, Raq had a tendency to be bossy, but she was influenced by protection and love.
“That’s playing an actor saying goodbye to his brother, but that’s true because of the love I, Patina, have for Malcolm as a person. Not being able to finish this story with him was painful.”
He stated that we don’t know who will survive Power, and when he read the script of this episode, it hit him in the heart. “Knowing that Lou-Lou was riding Raq at the end and knowing the relationship of how much she loves him… it was so heartbreaking.” According to Miller, Lou’s death will affect the story in the next episodes. “The bond is broken. Someone is missing now.”
Producer and executive producer Sascha Penn explained that Lou-Lou’s death was a natural part of the series’ storytelling. “The story tells us where it wants to go,” he added, adding that it turned on its own. “In the case of Raising Kanan, we always wanted to talk about the origin of this character who was still scary and violent. What things did he do to make him that boy?”
Examining that further directed how things unfolded in the final season, including Uncle Lou’s murder. “He didn’t start out the way he ended up,” Penn said of Kanan. “I think that on some level, every piece of the story we tell answers that question, and this is just a piece of that answer.”
Kanan is on an even more dangerous path in this final season of Raing Kanan.
This final season will have plenty of violence and rawness
When I spoke with the cast and Penn before the start of Season 5, one common theme kept coming up in our conversations: “Chickens come home to roost.”
The Thomases will be facing their enemies on the streets — lies and secrets will be revealed as the show progresses. “I think that’s what we’re going to see in this final season,” Penn said. “All these secrets that have been kept for a very long time, and again, lies that have been made for a very long time, have come out in ways that I think are surprising and frightening and in some cases, violent. This is a family on the brink.”
Fans will see how this all plays out over the next seven episodes, but Penn expressed that, in the end, he accomplished what he wanted to do with the series as a whole.
“I always thought it would be five seasons,” he said. “I feel like I was able to tell the full story of the Thomas family.”
As for Miller, he told me that this season we’ll see Raq at his “darkest” and “most volatile.” Lou’s death isn’t the only catalyst, but it does influence what we see and how the game ultimately ends. Saying goodbye to Mays and the series was difficult for the actor, but as he thinks about reading the final script, he shares why he is happy for the fans.
“I got to do really amazing things, and it’s an actor’s dream to be able to do what I was able to do on this show,” said Miller. “So, I didn’t want it to end. But I’m very happy with the way the story ends. And people may like it, they may hate it. I think they’ll be satisfied. I’m glad people saw it, but it was difficult.”
Season 5 of Raising Kanan airs on Starz every Friday and will conclude its finale in August.
