Mekai Curtis And Patina Miller Discuss Complexities Of Family In ‘Raising Kanan' Season 4: A Grim Reflection On Parental Influence, Legacy
As characters in Starz's Power prequel series universe embark on a new chapter, Kanan has officially stepped into his own. The question remains: Is he truly built for a life in the streets?
Is Kanan ready to inherit the lifestyle he's learned from his mother?
'I don't think anybody ever stepping into something will truly be ready,' Mekai Curtis told Blavity's Shadow and Act. 'I think you kind of just have to take it on the cuff as it comes. If you sink, you sink. If you swim, you swim. I think the story we see unfold with this show through and through with all of the characters is a constant audible call of, like, oh you thought you were going to do this one thing? But nope, surprise, you gotta switch courses. I genuinely think that is more so what happens in that entire space of [Raising] Kanan.'
Going into the fourth season, showrunner Sascha Penn focused on what the complexities of familial relationships mean to him as a writer as well as how to bring viewers into a world where, sometimes, the most essential relationship in our lives is rooted in chaos.
'The relationships are very complicated — in some cases, very dysfunctional — and there are definitely some moments where I'm like, 'What does this say about me? Where am I getting this from?'' he said. 'And, of course, much of it is informed from my own sort of sense of the world and sense of myself. For me, I kind of feel like it's very hard for people to change. It takes a lot for people to feel inspired to change. It usually takes something really big happening, something seismic in their lives, which is hard.'
'I've gone through some tremendous change over the course of this series to be honest with you, and I think a lot of that is on the page. The audience doesn't see the scripts, but Mekai does, and he knows I'll put a lot of sort of editorializing in between the dialogue to try to locate the characters emotionally, but to also locate myself emotionally when I'm writing it. And so much of it is about, you know, my father died also as we were shooting this, in an accident. Just so much of that is on the page. On some level, I do feel like there is a hopefulness to this series, which is hard to believe. But the hopefulness that I see in the series is that you do have characters who are trying to figure things out, who are trying to be better. They may not get there, but they're trying. And to me, trying is kind of 95% of the battle.'
Patina Miller has captivated audiences and Power franchise fanatics from day one for the layers she brings to the character Raquel 'Raq' Thomas. On a personal level, she said the most rewarding part of breathing life into the role is playing a person who makes the audience question things about themselves.
'Raquel is not good or evil, because she's so many different things at all times. She is heroic in one sense, but then she's the villain in another sense,' Miller said. 'You watch her try so desperately to be a good mom. But also, she has this scarred relationship with her own mother. And what that means, and a lot of what she's gotten from her own mother — the hardness from her mother — lives within her, which is why she's a little hard with those that she loves, right?'
She added, 'You do pick up things from your family, and that just is what it is — but also, you know, she always is battling that as well. And we are who we are. At the end of the day, so much of who we are comes from the people who raised us, the people who we've been around. And sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. I love being able to play roles like this that make an audience perk up, listen, question themselves. … It's created conversations in life. All of the different conversations that I've heard about the show, and what Raq represents, what Kanan represents, who are the Kanans and Raqs in their relationships and their lives, has been very interesting.'
The fourth season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan premieres on Starz on March 7.The post Mekai Curtis And Patina Miller Discuss Complexities Of Family In 'Raising Kanan' Season 4: A Grim Reflection On Parental Influence, Legacy appeared first on Blavity.
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Elle
10 hours ago
- Elle
You Should Be Reading the 'Outlander' Books in This Order
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. When Outlander first hit screens in 2014, it entranced a huge audience with the story of Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe), an English woman who travels in time from 1945 to 1743. Over seven seasons, fans have fallen in love with the series—and its steamy central romance—which will bow with its eighth and final season in early 2026. A prequel series, called Outlander: Blood of My Blood, is out now. But the Outlander story started with Diana Gabaldon's 1991 novel of the same name. It sparked a nine-book series, followed by additional novellas, short stories, and eventually the beloved Starz TV series. (Gabaldon has also announced a tenth book, A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out, which does not yet have a release date.) Are you ready to jump deeper into the Outlander world? Here's where to start. This short story prequel takes us to France in 1740. Years before he meets Claire in Outlander, a young Jamie and his friend Ian become mercenaries. The story begins in 1946, when Claire Randall and her husband Frank, who spent World War II apart, take a vacation to Inverness, Scotland. While looking for plants, Claire comes across a circle of ancient stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. She walks through a large stone and is suddenly transported to 1743, where she's labeled an outlander, a foreigner. She's walked into a land at war and faces tremendous danger, but finds protection from the Scottish warrior James Fraser, and falls deeply in love with him. Gabaldon's second Outlander book starts in 1968, with Claire back home, where she has a daughter and has been married to Frank for years. After Frank's death, she brings her daughter Brianna to Scotland to meet with the historian Roger Wakefield, who she hopes can tell her what happened to soldiers after the real-life battle of Culloden, which occurred in 1746. While searching for these answers, Claire shares painful and shocking parts of her life with Brianna and explains what happened to her in the second timeline after the events of the first book. In this novella, we turn to Hal Grey, the brother of Lord John Grey, and Minnie Rennie, the woman that he will one day marry. Minnie runs a rare book business with her father. She's in London both working and secretly looking for her mother, whom she's never met, when she stumbles into Hal, who is mourning his wife and unborn child, and they develop an instant connection. Jamie lives and he's desperately searching for Claire and her baby. Claire and Brianna are living in Boston and Brianna now knows that Jamie is her biological father. When Claire finds out that Jamie did not, in fact, die in the battle of Culloden and is still alive 20 years later, she must decide whether to leave her life with her daughter and return to the 1700s to find him, not knowing if she ever will. Drums of Autumn picks up where Voyager left off. Having reunited, Claire and Jamie are in the American colonies, where they are building a cabin for themselves in North Carolina. She has left Brianna, who remains in the present day. Brianna learns that a dangerous historical event is coming towards her parents and decides to go back in time to save them, and Roger Wakefield, the historian who loves her, follows to save her. In the fifth Outlander novel, Claire, Jamie, Brianna, and Roger (now Brianna's husband) are all together in 1771 North Carolina, facing down the coming Revolutionary War. They live on Fraser's Ridge, a 10,000-acre land grant that Jamie was given in order, alongside many other families. Because of Claire's knowledge of the future, she and Jamie know that the war is coming and when Jamie is asked by the British government to form a militia to quash a rebellion, he understands how dangerous the situation has become. It is now 1772 and the signs of war are becoming increasingly apparent, as tensions are heating up and violence is increasing. Claire is working as a healer, and her abilities have led some to become suspicious of her. Jamie is receiving increasing pressure from the British government to further the king's agenda while secretly knowing that their cause is a losing one. When An Echo in the Bone opens, Claire and Jamie still know that the Revolutionary War is coming but have no idea of how they will fare or which side Jamie will choose: the British, who he knows will lose, or the Colonies, which would pit him against his secret son. In the 1970s, where Brianna and Roger have travelled with their children, they are living on Jamie's family's estate. Through letters written by Claire, they are piecing together the mysteries of their family. In 1778, Claire, believing that Jamie was killed in a shipwreck, has married Lord John Grey. When Jamie returns, very much alive, he's angry to learn that his best friend has married his wife. His comeback surprises everyone, including Lord John Grey's son, who learns that Jamie is his biological father. Brianna and her family's peace in the 1970s has ended with the kidnapping of her son and Roger's quest to find him. As the devastation of the Revolutionary War continues, Claire and Jamie have been reunited with Brianna and her family and are rebuilding after the crisis of the past few years. There is fear that the war will ravage Fraser's Ridge and Brianna wonders: Was it a mistake to leave the safety of the 20th century to be with her parents in one of the most dangerous periods in American history?
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
Harriet Slater And Jamie Roy On ‘Outlander: Blood Of My Blood'
Outlander's prequel series Outlander: Blood of my Blood is about to become your new period drama obsession, and the first two episodes are now streaming on Starz. This new series takes us on an epic and romantic journey where we meet Jamie's parents in 1714, Scotland, Ellen and Bria, as well as Henry and Julia, Claire's parents, in 1917, England. The two couples will have to face many obstacles in order to be together, just like Jamie and Claire eventually will, some 30 years later. From the first few minutes of the show, Blood of my Blood proves to be an outstanding historical drama, with an attention to details and a knowledge of the lore that can only appeal to period drama aficionados. As soon as the opening credits hit the screen -and we have composer Bear McCreary to thank for it- Blood of my Blood soars to become one of the best historical dramas of these last few years. This prequel has everything it needs, to be an excellent successor to Outlander, so much so that season 2 is already in production. From the incredible sets to the costumes and a perfect casting, Blood of my Blood manages to be its own story, while capturing the magic and the essence of the original series. I spoke with the stars of the show, Harriet Slater (Ellen MacKenzie) and Jamie Roy (Brian Fraser), and I asked them how they view Jamie's character now that they have embodied his parents, and if they could see some of their own portrayal while watching Sam Heughan's performance in Outlander. Roy said, 'It's an interesting one, in terms of mannerisms, I think, I mean I've been told many times that Sam and I are similar men in terms of personalities, the way we look and things, and I got to hang out with him quite a bunch. When we're together, it's funny because I can feel the similarity. So when I saw it on the screen, I was just saying that I re-watched season 1 of Outlander maybe three months ago, just for fun because I had already seen it ages ago, but I just wanted to see season 1 of Outlander compared to season 1 of ours, you know. And watching it, there a lot of similarities between Jamie and Brian but they come organically honestly, it wasn't intentional, the gestures and things like that. So hats off to casting because they really knew what they were doing.' He added: 'Talking about season 1 again, the wedding episode, Jamie tells a story about his parents and things like that, he's really soft-spoken and very romantic and I was like 'That's my boy!'' In the original series, Jamie tells Claire about his parents when she visits his home, Lallybroch. He gives a few details about his father, such as the kind of books he would be reading, that he would put his boots by the fireplace, or even that he would keep a dagger under his bed. I asked Roy if the way Jamie talks about his parents influenced his portrayal of Brian. He said, 'If I'm honest, not quite yet, because when Jamie is talking about his parents like that, we're not quite there. We're starting this journey right at the start of Brian and Ellen's relationship, so we have so much more story to tell. And it's one of these things where you don't know what you don't know, as a character. So I'm excited to see how that sort of thing plays out, to the point where I'm keeping a dagger under the bed, and the books, and what will be my own house eventually.' If we can clearly see that Jamie got his kindness from Brian, his tenacity and fierceness come from his mother, Ellen MacKenzie, brilliantly portrayed by Slater. 'Brian has a really soft side, which only really comes out of Ellen when she's with Brian,' Slater told me. Ellen is torn between many responsibilities since the death of her father, Red Jacob Mackenzie, portrayed by Scottish legend, Peter Mullan. Ellen was his father's favorite child and would have been his successor, if she had been a man. Since Ellen can't be Laird of Clan MacKenzie, the clan will have to choose between Ellen's brothers, Colum and Dougal MacKenzie, respectively portrayed by Séamus McLean Ross and Sam Retford. This new show explains the past of many characters we know from Outlander, from Dougal to Colum and Murtagh, and it gives so much context to the history and wars between the different clans. I asked the two actors if they had a new perspective on a character thanks to the prequel. Slater said, 'Mine is Colum, he's such a complicated character, and Ellen's relationship with Colum is so complex, they were best friends and then things happen… without giving anything away, their relationship changes quite drastically. But me, as Harriet, I understand where they're both coming from, it's a really tricky situation, and they both are torn between the love they have for each other and doing what they both think is right for the sake of the clan that Colum has to think about, but Ellen too. And Ellen's torn because her heart belongs to Brian, and then that's a really tough situation.' Roy added: 'For me it's Murtagh. Seeing a younger version of Murtagh, I think it could be so different from what fans know in Outlander. And then we see him, this young lad who doesn't have any, you know, tortured soul. He's very young and happy and easy-going. I think people are really going to enjoy seeing what made him a little hard. He's played by Rory Alexander, he's fantastic, and with Brian they're obviously best pals, they hang out quite a lot so, I'm excited to see this change at first hand, which is very fun.' If Blood of my Blood looks as gorgeous as it does on our screen, it's because it was shot on location in Scotland, which acts as a character in itself, as it gives the mood and sets the tone and atmosphere to an already gripping story, so I asked Slater and Roy which location had the biggest impact on their performance this season. Roy said, 'For me, it was the first time being on a set that big. Actually in episode 1, when Brian and Murtagh appear at a gathering, it was my first time seeing so many supporting artists, incredible costumes all around, horses, cooking stalls… The attention to detail was so incredible, you honestly think all these guys had been pulled out of the stones you know, and you had been transported to this time. I remember thinking 'Wow! I really don't have to use my imagination much here, you're just surrounded by it.' It was really quite special.' Slater said, 'That's a really good question. Me and Séamus had a similar moment, I think it was week 3 and it was our first day outside. We'd been in the studios for the first 2 weeks, filming inside Leoch, which is again an incredible set. But getting outside, there was something so special about that. I remember the weather, it wasn't great, it was so cold, it was windy and it was raining. It was February in Scotland, so brutal.' She added: 'But we were into the elements and able to use it. Like Jamie was saying, there were 150 supporting artists, the set was so immersive, the smells and the sights and the sounds, it really felt like we were there, like Jamie said, it made the job 10 times easier. Once you couldn't see the film crew, it was like I could really be in 1714, Scotland.' The first two episodes of Outlander: Blood of my Blood are now streaming on Starz.
Cosmopolitan
a day ago
- Cosmopolitan
Your Guide to All the ‘Outlander' Books in Order and ‘Blood of My Blood'
Adaptation babes! Have you put off reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series after devouring season after season of Claire and Jamie goodness on Starz? Bookmark this primer before you get out an actual bookmark–here's what you need to know about how to read the Outlander books in order, what supplemental stories you might want to pepper into your time-traveling adventure, and whether the prequel, Blood of My Blood is based on anything. It's not as simple as just going through the series of books as they were released, because Gabaldon has written a ton of novellas, short stories, and a whole spin-off series about a supporting character. How you choose to go about integrating all of the books, if you do choose to do so, is entirely up to you. I've included release dates for every work, so you could just go through them chronologically by when they came out. I almost always prefer reading things in release order, rather than "timeline order" (some of the novellas and spin-offs are prequels) when there's a choice. But, at least when it comes to the novellas, you can skip around! So far, more or less, each book corresponds to a season of the Starz series. Season 1 is Outlander, season 2 is Dragonfly in Amber, and so on. Season 7, part 2 is airing right now, and one of the last episodes of this season is named "Written in My Heart's Own Blood," which implies that we might start to get season 8 plots. If you've seen the series and want to read the books but want to skip ahead for whatever reason—maybe you don't want to deal with Randall, or can't wait to get to Brianna and Roger—it should be pretty easy to figure out where to jump in. Maybe you want to skip right to the books that haven't been adapted yet. That's okay, too! Do you feel like there's not enough Lord John, the British sweetie who rolls in once a season and gets up to stuff while making heart eyes at Jamie? I have great news for you. There are many books and novellas about the fan-favorite character AND they're mysteries AND Jamie is in more than one of them. How fun is that?! If you want more miscellaneous reading, this collection includes both Lord John and Outlander stories. It also has a story about Jamie and Ian Murray's time in France. Finally, there is an Outlander crossover story called "Past Prologue" in the short story collection Match Up. In it, characters from Outlander interact with characters from the Cotton Malone novels by Steve Berry, who co-wrote the story with Gabaldon. It's not connected to Outlander, but there's also a story co-written by True Blood author Charlaine Harris in this collection, FYI. This is a tricky one, because even though the new prequel series is based on characters that are spoken about in the books (Jamie's parents, Claire's parents), the events in the show are not based on a book, so to speak. Like, you can't go read a book that mirrors the episode and season structure of Blood of My Blood. So while we, as viewers and readers, know what happened to these characters eventually, their stories get a lot more detail in this series that we haven't heard or read about before.
