Just days ahead of the season-three premiere of Starz’ Power Book III: Raising Kanan, the network renewed the show for a fourth season with production beginning this week in New York City.
Set in the early 1990s, the third series in the Power universe tells the origin story of Kanan Stark (MeKai Curtis), who was introduced to the criminal world by his mother, Raquel “Raq” Thomas (Patina Miller). In the original Power, Kanan Stark is played by executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, upon whose life the series was loosely based. Power Book III also stars Omar Epps as Detective Malcolm Howard, London Brown as Marvin Thomas, Malcolm Mays as Lou-Lou Thomas, Hailey Kilgore as Jukebox, Joey Bada$$ as Unique, Shanley Caswell as Detective Burke, Antonio Ortiz as Famous and Grantham Coleman as Ronnie. The trailer also reveals that Tony Danza shows up in a guest-starring role.
“We’re thrilled to continue Kanan Stark’s story, and for fans to see how the events of his formative adolescent years continue to mold him into the cold-hearted villain they were first introduced to in ‘Power.’ We are quite sure that after viewers see the battle lines being drawn between Raq and Kanan on this epic upcoming third season that they will demand more,” said Kathryn Busby, Starz’ president of original programming, in a statement.
Starz’ Power, starring Omari Hardwick as drug dealer James “Ghost” St. Patrick, premiered in 2014 and ran for six seasons. It proved so popular with fans that Starz turned the show into its own universe, spinning off several sequels and prequels.
Sascha Penn will return as showrunner and executive producer for season four. The series is executive produced by the creator and showrunner of the original Power, Courtney A. Kemp through her production company End of Episode, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson through G-Unit Film and Television, and Mark Canton through Atmosphere Entertainment MM. Chris Selak and Kevin Fox also serve as executive producers. Lionsgate Television produces the series for Starz.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan premieres Friday, December 1, on Starz with new episodes available weekly on Fridays at midnight ET on the Starz app and all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms.
CREDITS
Client: Starz
Agency (trailer): Open Road
In AMC’s new limited series, Monsieur Spade, iconic American detective Sam Spade (Clive Owen) is just trying to quietly retire in the South of France when six nuns are murdered at the local convent. While he would prefer to sit back and mind his own business, sometimes you can’t deny your calling.
Besides Owen, the six-episode series also stars Cara Bossom, Denis Ménochet, Louise Bourgoin, Chiara Mastroianni, Stanley Weber, Matthew Beard, Jonathan Zaccaï and Rebecca Root. Alfre Woodard and Dean Winters guest star.
The series is co-created, written and executive produced by Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit, Godless), who also directs. Executive producers are Owen, Tom Fontana (Oz), Barry Levinson, Teddy Schwarzman, Michael Heimler, Caroline Benjo, Barbara Letellier, Simon Arnal, Carole Scotta, Carlo Martinelli and David Helpern.
In conjunction with the Dashiell Hammett Estate, the series is produced by Black Bear and co-produced by Haut et Court TV (The Returned, No Man’s Land), who also handled local production services in France, and French TV service Canal Plus. FilmNation Entertainment (I Know This Much Is True) handles international distribution outside of North America.
Monsieur Spade premieres Sunday, January 14 on AMC, AMC Plus and Acorn TV.
CREDITS
Client: AMC Networks
Agency: Open Road
Tags: acorn tv amc amc plus clive owen monsieur spade official trailer scott frank
So proud of our whole team for this year's Promax North America wins! Congratulations and thank you to all of our incredible creative partners! #OpenRoadLA #PromaxNA @AMCNetworks @SYFY @warnerbrostv @disneyplus
In Apple TV Plus’ new series City on Fire, Samantha (Chase Sui Wonders) is murdered in Central Park, apparently alone, with no witnesses and little physical evidence, although her best friend Charlie (Wyatt Oleff) is left to mourn her. As the crime is investigated, it is revealed that Samantha, who held many secrets, is the connection between several seemingly unrelated things: a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene and a wealthy real estate family.
Besides Oleff and Wonders, the show stars Xavier Clyde, Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Max Milner, Alexandra Doke, Omid Abtahi, Kathleen Munroe and John Cameron Mitchell.
City on Fire, based on the best-selling 2016 novel by Garth Risk Hallberg, is created and executive produced by The O.C. and Gossip Girl’s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage along with Jesse Peretz and Lis Rowinski, with Peretz directing.
City on Fire premieres Friday, May 12 on Apple TV Plus.
CREDITS
Client: Apple TV Plus
Agency: Open Road
Open Road’s branding and design division, PopClutch, last week rolled out a new hyper-energized main title sequence for HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, now in its 21st season.
With music performed by punk-pop band Green Day, the edgy motion graphics illustrate the types of thorny issues that the weekly news commentary show takes on.
Fun fact: Sharre Jacoby, who joined Open Road from Known to launch PopClutch, has worked on every iteration of Real Time’s main titles since the show launched in 2003.
