‘Power’ Franchise Expanding Again With Ghost & Tommy Prequel Series In Development At Starz

Rosy Cordero
·3 min read
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Starz is expanding the Power Universe again with a prequel spinoff series that will reunite Ghost and Tommy.

In the vein of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, which follows the youthful years of everyone’s favorite foe, Kanan Stark (played by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), the new series Origin will follow the early years of the beloved duo of Ghost and Tommy’s (played by Omari Hardwick and Joseph Sikora in the OG series).

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Fans of Raising Kanan have been asking for seasons when Ghost and Tommy would run into Kanan since the teens met in high school, yet those characters had never been cast. But as Tommy reappeared after Power in Power Book II: Ghost before spinning off into his series Power Book IV: Force, it would make sense if Ghost and Tommy appeared in Raising Kanan before Origins. And to add one more piece of pure speculation on my end, the stories in both Raising Kanan and Origins could end with the start of the mothership series—OR, could the former end at some point with Kanan then appearing in the latter?

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“As we approach the 10-year anniversary of Power it is incredible to witness the enormous connection our fans have with the ‘Power’ universe,” Kathryn Busby, President of Programming for Starz said in a statement. “We can’t wait to see how Origins will further evolve this dynamic franchise while bringing fresh, gripping, and expansive storytelling to our audience.”

Yesterday, Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch revealed plans to contain content costs by developing more new shows versus sustaining series longer as they become more expensive. Speaking at a Deutsche Bank media conference ahead of the company’s move to become a standalone public company by year’s end, Hirsch used the Power franchise as an example.

“You look at the [Power] map and say, ‘OK, if I take one of those characters out and spin one of those out, I can bring that on to replace the Power show at half the cost.’ Now I’m putting a lot of money right to the bottom line. And I’m really not losing anything in terms of acquisition costs and subscriber viewership, because we know what those demos want. And we know how to line those up. And so that’s really the core of getting to that 20% [margin] — turning that slate over with fresh content to drive the business,” Hirsh said.

The mothership series Power ran for 6 seasons; Power Book II: Ghost will return for a fourth season later this year; Power Book III: Raising Kanan is currently in production in NY on Season 4; Power Book IV: Force is currently in production on its third season in Chicago. With Origins in development, could it mean the end is near for one or more of the above?

There have also been conversations for years about expanding the “Power” Universe into London which could essentially create endless spinoff possibilities or expansions into other cities, lest franchise fans be worried they’ll be saying goodbye more often to their favorite shows.

Sascha Penn is the executive producer for Origins. The “Power” Universe 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 Canton Entertainment. Lionsgate Television produces “Origins” for STARZ.

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