50 Cent and Omar Epps have said that Power Book III: Raising Kanan, the latest instalment in the Power Saga, will come as a surprise to fans of the franchise.

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The prequel series is set in the '90s and focuses on the early years of 50 Cent’s Kanan Stark, exploring his relationships and explaining how he became the character fans know from the main series.

Mekai Curtis takes on the role of Kanan for the new series, while 50 Cent – who created the franchise in collaboration with Courtney A. Kemp – remains on board as a narrator and executive producer.

Asked what he wants fans to get out of the new series, the rapper said he hopes people are surprised by what they are watching.

"I wanted to surprise people with how good it is after they felt that they already know," he told RadioTimes.com. "You feel like you already know but it gets better, because you feel like you already know what to expect from Power but there's new stuff.

He added, "And it's for the television audience also, because the people that I would say were in college having their adult experience for the first time in 2003, they would be my core base, they are now not partying at every available moment, they now watch television.

"But they grew up through that era so they understand the nuance of the things that are happening in the show and I believe that they're going to be really passionate about it."

Another of the show's stars, Omar Epps, echoed 50 Cent's sentiments that the show would come as a surprise.

"Hopefully, they will be surprised by a lot of things because the approach is really exploring the innocence of being a teenager," he explained.

"We were all at a point when we had pimples and were goofy and backward, you know, but we all have experienced some sort of that as part of the human journey and hopefully that part will surprise them because they already have an idea of who the end result was.

"And so it's like the challenge is creatively how to bring the audience back to the humanity of this person, and he once was just a normal kid."

Additional reporting by Eammon Jacobs.

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Power Book III: Raising Kanan will be available to watch on Starzplay from Sunday 18th July. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide. Visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.

Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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