“This is something that people haven’t seen me play,” commented Omar Dorsey on his character Cartier “Duns” Fareed in Power Book III: Raising Kanan, a prequel to Power starring 50 Cent as Kanan Stark. Power Book III: Raising Kanan follows the earlier years of the titular character, set in the 1990s.
Prior to his role as Cartier, Dorsey can be recognized for many other notable projects including The Blind Side, Django Unchained, and Ray Donovan. Though as Dorsey noted, his character Cartier stands apart from his previous work. “This guy right here is an opportunity to seize. He’s a puppet master… I just watched a couple of the next episodes and was like, ‘Oh, wow. This is coming together real well, because the introduction of my character was just okay, but then we’ll see when episode four comes in, that’s when you really see what Cartier is about,” said Dorsey.
The second season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan is currently being released on Sundays at 9 pm ET on STARZ.
Working With a Stacked Cast on Power Book III: Raising Kanan
Power Book III: Raising Kanan has quite a stacked cast, which seems to be characteristic of most projects 50 Cent is involved with. Alongside Dorsey in the cast are Joey Bada$$, Mekai Curtis, Omar Epps, Shanley Caswell, London Brown, Quincy Brown, Malcolm M. Mays, and Patina Miller, to name a few. Although 50 Cent doesn’t make an appearance in the series, he is involved as an executive producer alongside G-Unit Film & Television, with Sascha Penn serving as the creator.
“I’ve been watching Omar since I was a kid,” commented Dorsey on working with Epps, “I was always like, ‘oh, this is going to be crazy when I get to work with him,’ and now we’re in a show together. He’s iconic in my eyes. And it’s a beautiful thing.”
“I tell you,” continued Dorsey, shifting the discussion to working alongside Joey Bada$$, “that dude just really impresses me,” he said as he recalled producers recommending watching him. “I didn’t think about him as a rapper… I was like, ‘This kid is a good rapper… and he’s a good actor.’ So I’m very excited to see where he goes in his career because he has it all.”
As for Penn, Dorsey commented that they are "the same age, so when we first started talking about the character, we started talking about the era, like the early ‘90s. We just started going on a riff about music, about clothes, and all that type of stuff. I was like, ‘He’s just like me.’ He’s so ingrained and into the culture of hip hop, and you know, we were just speaking the same language.”
Inspiration for Power Book III: Raising Kanan
Inspiration for the story of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and other Power series in the universe, are drawn from 50 Cent’s life, with the addition of other impacts he has as an executive producer. Of which Dorsey recalled reached table reads of the script.
“He was at every table read we had. He would comment on stuff. I had the pleasure to work with 50 years ago, we did a film together called The Setup with me, him, and Bruce Willis. And so, we’ve been talking every time we see each other…. I love what he has been doing. It’s tremendous. He’s trying to get up there with the Dick Wolfe’s of the world… He has this whole universe now, the Power universe, but then he comes with BMF… and I’m glad he’s found a foothold outside of rap that he can really sink his teeth into… from Power, all the way to the other things he has done in television. It’s tremendous,” said Dorsey.
In addition to working with the Epps or Penn or 50 Cent, Dorsey noted that another element that particularly made him want to get involved in the series was the chance to work with Miller. “I was a big fan of hers on stage and a big fan of her character in season one… when they said we have Patina Miller to be the lead, I said, ‘You know how good she really is?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, she’s dope, man.’ This woman is a whirlwind. She’s a Tasmanian devil,” said Dorsey.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan is also produced by Atmosphere Entertainment MM and End of Episode.