The family business rules everything in the “Thrones” universe — but in season 2 of “Book of Thrones III: Raising Kanan,” some new characters may have some plans to change the dynamic as fans know it.
LeToya Luckett, Omar Dorsey and Paulina Singer join the series this season, each of their characters stepping onto the stage with something.
Season two opens with a regretful Kanan (Mekai Curtis), a teenager in New York with his mother Raquel after a run-in with Officer Howard (Omar Epps) in season one. Earl (Patina Miller) reunites with the rest of the Thomas family. But he soon learned of new family ties, and the business was expanding faster than before.
The game is different in Season 2 in more than one way. Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays) wants to continue building his recording studio with new singer Zisa (Paulina Singer) — and Raquel’s attempt to move his business to New Jersey isn’t without some difficulties.
The move proved dangerous for her team members. Still, as her strength, she pushes in all directions – protecting her business, protecting her family (which could prove dangerous), and potentially building a new one with local businessman Cartier (Dorsey) relation.
Dorsey is a newcomer to the “Force” universe, but he’s quickly proving himself among fans as a potential wild card as he promises Cartier will be “increasingly integrated into the world of Raq and Lou Lou.”
On the face of it, Cartier doesn’t look like some of Raq’s past (namely Toby Sandman’s Symphony), but his suave demeanor and someone who fits almost seamlessly into the inner circle of the Thomas family make him all the rage people’s attention. After introducing himself to Lu as Zisa’s manager, viewers saw him invest in Lu’s recording studio after taking office.
The funding was an unwitting move against Ruck, but now that she knows the truth behind his mysterious identity, he may prove to have answers to some of her other pressing questions.
“From the outside, Raquel seemed like the perfect match for Cartier,” Dorsey said. “She has drive, power, money, and she doesn’t need him. She might be the perfect queen…but Luck is another beast. She’s not fit to play ‘helper’. She’s a ‘sun’ and the world revolves around her Turn. Cartier is also a ‘sun’, so it will be very interesting to watch this dynamic.”
If there’s one thing that can be grasped from the now five-episode iteration of “The Power”, it’s that testosterone is taking a back seat to the female power that drives this car. With Miller at the helm, she leads a team of smaller bosses whose outside connections could threaten the actions Luck builds with whatever power they wield.
Singer, the female singer who plays Zisa, also joins the cast this season as the voice of Lou. While her character seems small in the early episodes, the actor warns that Zisa offers more than just looks and a little singing reprieve.
“I think when she met Lou, she was still a little unsure and allowed herself to fit into certain boxes by people who told her she could make her a star,” Singer told type“It was important for her to realize that she was already a star without the need for recognition from others. I think for other artists, especially in the music industry, to see a woman in a very male-centric and leading It’s important to be in charge of your own voice and direction in the space.”
Outside of the series, Singer hopes to get the audience’s attention when she releases her own album, “Freaq Wisdom.” She joins fellow singers Hailey Kilgore and Luckett as another multi-hyphen in the series (who also showcased their vocal talents on the show). Although, the former Destiny Child member hasn’t committed to a new original anytime soon, even though she’s voiced her in two episodes this season.
Luckett herself is a mother who was added to the series as Kenya — the long-lost mother of Kanan’s cousin, Kilgore, who left her daughter as a child. Due to the sensitive nature of Kenya’s relationship with her children, and concerns about her role after reading the script, Luckett got into the driver’s seat, hoping for answers about Kenya’s place as a young black mother in a desperate situation.
“I thought [the viewers] Have some sympathy for her,” she told type“As a mom and dumping a child, it’s not something I can take lightly. I have to put in every emotion, remove every judgment, and get in as much as I can because I want to tell her story well.”
When Juke senses the tension between her father, Marvin (London Brown), she turns her attention to her mother-daughter relationship.
Even with the new branch, family remains the root of the series. They’re the bonds that tie the characters together — or cause divisions. Each side swayed with the wind as the force pulled on both sides of the Thomas family, and a mother held them together.
“I think Luck is the rock. She’s the heartbeat, and as far as I’m concerned, so was my grandmother and mom — they were the rock,” Luckett said. “But we leaned toward my mom, we leaned toward the women in our family, and I think that’s what I love about the show the most. It shows a woman in power, and it’s very powerful.”
Relevance, she added, is the anchor that keeps viewers immersed in the show’s overarching story. She also gave a nod to the show’s writers as fans relate to the courage of each story unfolding in the series, who made the new and previous characters equal to each other.
“They’re all connected in some way, but in a variety of ways,” Luckett said. “They understand and respect each other.”
“It’s a story that makes you want to serve the characters rather than judge them,” Singer said of connecting with the audience. “It affects how audiences see people in their own lives, who may look like our characters or remind them of ours, and help them judge them less. Break down the walls between worlds.”