Druq queenpin Raquel Thomas’ strained relationship with her son, Kanan Stark, continues to evolve in season 5 of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, which follows Kanan as he steps out from her shadow and spreads his wings in the drug game.
As Kanan becomes more independent, Raq is forced to confront the reality that he has become her competition in life and, more specifically, in the New York City drug world. Asked how she approaches that dynamic, Patina Miller, who portrays Raq, says she keeps in mind that her character’s decisions are rooted in love and pain.
“I think Raquel loves him … but she’s no longer interested or worried about Kanan and what he’s doing,” Patina tells ABC Audio.
Although Raq wanted Kanan to understand her vision, his choices have forced her to move forward without him.
“She’s finally saying the thing that she’s always probably wanted to say … ‘This is about me now,"” Patina says. “This is the business. I am gonna go, like, full-on in this business. And if you don’t want to be with me, I’ve tried to bring you along for it.”
“First I didn’t want you in it, now you are in it. You don’t see the vision like I see the vision, you’re challenging me,” she continues. “Now I just gotta, like, do it the way that I know how to do it.”
In one episode this season, Raq refers to Kanan as her enemy – a description Patina says comes from a place of pain. “I think she’s hurt,” she explains. “She’s acting out of her emotion in that sense.”
Raq’s love for Kanan seems unconditional, although she’s forced to take a stand this season as she tries to protect Kanan following his involvement in her brother Lou’s death and his recent attempts to sabotage her drug operation.
A new episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan premieres Friday on Starz.
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