How Are All the ‘Power’ Shows Connected? A Beginner’s Guide to the Original Starz Series and Its Many Spinoffs

The Powerverse just keeps growing.

When it debuted back in 2014, Power wasn’t exactly an instant hit… well, at least not with critics. But fans were hooked, and the series picked up enough momentum to propel Starz to a larger stage. Nearly 10 years later, the show has spawned three spinoffs, including Power Book IV: Force, which premieres its second season on Sept. 1, 2023.

While the original show’s creator, Courtney A. Kemp, left Starz for an overall deal with Netflix, she remains a creative force on the franchise alongside executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Here’s a beginner’s guide to the Power universe, and how all the shows are connected.

Power

The flagship series, which premiered June 7, 2014, introduced fans to James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), aka Ghost, and his best friend, Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora). The two grew up together, with Tommy’s mom, Kate (Patricia Kalember), stepping in to help raise Ghost. As an adult, Ghost is married to Tasha (Naturi Naughton), and the pair are parents to three kids: twins Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.) and Raina (Donshea Hopkins) and Yasmine (Amaya Carr).

When the show kicks off, Ghost finds himself at a crossroads: After spending years in the drug game, he wants to leave it all behind and build a legitimate brand of nightclubs. Things go from intense to nearly unsustainable over the course of the series’ six seasons, particularly after Ghost’s former-mentor-turned-rival Kanan Stark (50 Cent) re-enters the picture after a long stay in prison. Ultimately, the show ends in tragedy, when (spoiler alert!) Ghost is shot by his son Tariq and dies in Tommy’s arms.

Since the show aired its last episode on Feb. 9, 2020, Hardwick has indicated that he would be open to returning to the franchise in some capacity if it made sense, and if the money were right. As he told the Associated Press in May 2023, “It would just have to be the perfect thing. They asked me before to come back…and they didn’t come back giving me [the salary] I wanted in this.”

Power Book II: Ghost

The conclusion of Power sets the entire universe on a collision course with fate. With his father out of the picture, Tariq St. Patrick steps into his dad’s woefully vacant shoes. He soon meets the Tejada family, led by mom Monet (Mary J. Blige), whose husband is currently behind bars.

Tariq is a college student at the same time he’s running drugs, and he’s also battling his father’s lawyer in an attempt to cash in on his inheritance (Ghost left Tasha with nothing to fall back on). He ends up soliciting the help of attorney Davis MacLean (Clifford “Method Man” Smith) as well as entertaining Monet’s daughter, Diana (LaToya Tonodeo).

The series aired its third season finale on May 26, 2023 and production will resume on Season 4 once the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have reached a conclusion.

Michael Rainey Jr., who plays Tariq, spoke to Digital Spy about the stunning Season 3 twist, which reintroduced Lauren Baldwin (Paige Hurd), a character that Tariq previously believed was dead. As he put it, finding out that his best friend and another love interest were the ones who tried to kill Lauren was devastating. “He’s actually finally trying to exhibit some trust and he’s trying to be a little bit trustworthy with people. But, you know, we see how that turns back on him.” Season 4 can’t come soon enough.

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

For Book III of the series, the Power franchise takes things back to the 1990s to explore the teen years of Kanan Stark (played as an adult by 50 Cent). The installment, which debuted on July 18, 2021, stars Mekai Curtis as a young Stark, and the series follows the misadventures of his enormously successful drug business.

Raising Kanan also brings another character from the original series back into the fold: a young LaVerne “Jukebox” Ganner (Hailey Kilgore), Kanan’s cousin. While viewers who first met adult Jukebox (Anika Noni Rose) in the flagship series are likely to be skeptical of her good intentions, the younger Jukebox is a multi-faceted force.

While speaking to TV Fanatic about the success of the third installment, 50 Cent shared that being able to tap into the music of the 1990s has been a lot of fun. Viewers who lived through the era are “actually excited by [the soundtrack] because you’re not hearing these things 24/7 anymore,” he said. “It just like has to be on your special playlist for you to hear these things.”

Season 3 of Raising Kanan is set to premiere Dec. 1, 2023.

Power Book IV: Force

Book IV of the Power series follows up with Tommy Egan, the best friend of Ghost and his former partner, who has left New York City to start again in Chicago.

Because he’s new to the city and the city is new to him, Tommy is able to take Chicago’s rules and tweak them how he sees fit. He soon finds himself at odds with an Irish family that’s been running the drug game in the city for a while…and things play out about how you might expect them to.

At the conclusion of Season 1, Joseph Sikora spoke to TVLine about his character’s evolution since he debuted on Power. “Tommy can’t help himself with his desire to be No. 1,” Sikora said. “He can’t help himself with his incredible hatred and rage problem, to leaping before he looks. But he has evolved into a much more deft strategist … I think the death of Ghost opened up the spirit of the strategy that made a really complex gangster, and that is now Tommy.”