“This is, at its heart, a family drama and I think the pieces of the series that people seem to respond to the most is the family stuff,” showrunner Sascha Penn told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “To be honest, the sort of interpersonal dynamics that exist between these characters, whether it’s Raq and Kanan, Kanan and Jukebox, Marvin and Raq. I mean, that is really sort of what the show is built around and this season, we double down on that in interesting ways.”

As Kanan (Mekai Curtis) is working to come into his own, Curtis notes how viewers will find him a little smarter, but still trying to sort out information as it is presented to him.

“You meet Kanan piecing together [the information] around him,” he said. “He’s less naive than he was in season 1, but still giving people the benefit of the doubt. He’s wrestling with the very notions of what’s happening around him as most people do in certain times. That’s where you’ll continue to see him… trying to figure out who he is as a person, but also what he means to people around him, too.”

While Kanan’s mother Raq (Patina Miller) deals with feelings of uncertainty when it comes to leaving the drug game behind, she is also navigating a new relationship with her son as a result of her dishonesty.

“You’re actually having to watch her be the genius that she is and spin the story to really get everyone out…you know, hopefully, no one goes to jail,” Miller noted. “But then, as the season goes on, she’s having to grapple with all of those things and you find her at a point where she decides that maybe she wants to do something else.”

She continued, “For two seasons, this is all she’s wanted…to be in the game and to be at the top, but then in season 3, because of things that have happened in season 2 and watching how the relationship with her son is not in a good place, she has decided to focus on getting him back. There’s no more lies she can tell. She can’t spin anything else. He sees her. He knows her and she’s seeing him change at a quick rate and so the mother in her is terrified.”

What’s more, as Kanan and Raq work to sort out the current dynamics of their relationship, Jukebox’s (Hailey Kilgore) disdain for having to sort out her family’s mess is also growing.

“So the thing about Juke and Kanan’s relationship is it’s always been…I don’t know how many times we’ve seen, Kanan and Raq have a fight and Raq looks to Juke and is like, ‘Okay, now go fix it.’” said Kilgore. “Juke is kind of the caretaker and the babysitter and the therapist and the secret keeper and all I’m gonna say is I think she’s getting tired.”

For this particular family dynamic, since viewers will see other households shift in the new season), it all boils down to Raq having to face the consequences of her actions.

“She’s been so diabolical in her scheming, it’s bound to affect the relationships when you do all of that,” said Malcolm Mays, who portrays Lou Lou, Raq’s younger brother. “I think that in her mind, that’s part of the problem. In her mind, she doesn’t think that any new relationships are changing or should change and so when they do she’s genuinely shocked.”

As Raq fights to maintain power, viewers may start to question whether it is something that she actually wants to keep moving forward, especially within the family organization. 

New episodes of Raising Kanan drop weekly on Fridays.