*Contains Season One Spoilers*
Power Book II: Raising Kanan had an explosive season finale that saw the battle lines slowly form within the Stark family, where literally nothing went as planned but somehow Raquel (Patina Miller) has a false sense of reality.
At the end of the season finale (that leaves us with more questions than answers), Raq stands on the top of Baisley projects exuberant over her accomplishments, the world is her stage. She has succeeded in manipulating her son, Kanan (Mekai Curtis), to murder his biological father, Detective Howard (Omar Epps), which he fails at. Even though she’s unaware of this, her decision to kill a cop has but a serious dent in her relationship with Lou-Lou (Malcolm Mays), who knows that being a cop killer brings too much heat and was overkill (sorry, corny pun).
Even worse, when Lou-Lou declared he was leaving the life of crime for green less stress-inducing pastures, Raquel threatens him, reminding him that everything is thinks he owns belongs to her, including his beloved the recording studio that brings him peace.
The ripple effect of Raquel’s cop killing actions even affects Marvin who gets arrested with an open warrant after cops swarm the Southside harassing people as they do random car searches, looking for the person who shot the Detective.
After breaking up with Symphony, (who only wanted to love Raquel) Raquel tucks away her pride and asks him for his assistance to pick up Kanan. Symphony who is too good for this family genuinely loves both Raquel and Kanan. He comes without hesitation. With Symphony’s help, Kanan makes it out of Queens and is heading down I-95.
There are so many stories lining up for the next season the writers have a lot to handle for season two; including Jukebox being rejected by her father for her sexuality. Where is Kanan headed off to and how will he find his footing in a new location? After being framed for the murder of Detective Howard will Unique get justice?
Will Detective Howard tell police his son shot him? Is there still a chance for Symphyony (Toby Sandeman) and Raquel? Will Raquel’s brothers finally have enough of the drug business and walk away from it all? Will Raq and her brothers all go to jail? Will Unique (Joey Badass) payback? How long will Kanan stay away? What will Howard say when he finally speaks? Will Raq and Symphony reconnect? Will Lou-Lou turn against Raq and be a part of the music industry?
Showrunner and Executive Producer Sascha Penn recently provided some answers during an interview held with Guild members.
“We are about two thirds of the way through shooting season two [and] it’s been great. I think the fans can expect the relationship between [Raquel] and Kanan becomes increasingly complicated, as you can imagine. Kanan’s strength [grows]. Kanan started nice [and] loving. [The family went to McDonald’s together. [The show was at] its most basic. [Now in the second season] the show is about this collision of family and business right; that is the tension for Raq. [What is it like] being a mother and also running your own business?” Obviously, the stakes are higher they’re very different but that is fundamentally [of] what the show is about.”
“The plan is to stay within the timeline. We’re not going to make any giant leaps to you know the year 2000 or whatever, we’ll stay how we’re doing it. I think [in] season two, basically the stakes just get ratcheted up in every possible way.”
“Kanan starts to realize stuff about his mom and himself. Detective Howard increasingly becomes a player in the family drama. Jukebox is still sort of reckoning with how the season ended for her and this relationship with Marvin which is troubled. Marvin is trying to sort of redeem himself on a certain level. Lou who’s played by Malcolm Mays, starts to become deep more deeply involved in the music business, but of course, that also bumps up against the family business.”
“Unique who’s played by Joey Badass is you know trying to figure out how he can rebuild his business and his life after what happens at the end of the first season.
“So, there’s a lot of moving pieces, there’s a lot that’s happening and then there are players in this drama that we have not met yet in season one who will become important pieces of the puzzle in season two. I think we’re all really excited.”
“The season’s coming along really well [and] the pandemic obviously has impacted various things, but I think we’re getting it done. We’re [just] really excited.”
A release date for Raising Kanan season two has not been announced. To learn more about the show, you can catch up on our episodic recaps and watch our interviews with the cast.
