For actors Wendell Pierce and Erika Woods, art continues to imitate life. Their relationship dynamic in Power Book III: Raising Kanan is merely an extension of their real-life romance.
The pair became an addition to the hit Starz series during the show’s third season, and they’ve returned to their roles for its fourth installment. Pierce plays Ishmael “Snaps” Henry, a former bank robber, OG dealer and overall living street legend who takes people like Kanan (Mekai Curtis) under his wing and supports them as both a mentor and investor alongside his wife Stephanie “Pop” Henry, portrayed by Woods.
Pierce said the writers subtly showcase the way Snaps and Pop influence Kanan’s journey, which later leads to him to holding his own as a man in the current Raising Kanan season.
“I think, if you notice, almost every scene we have with Kanan, we do business, and then we try to give him some insight,” Pierce said in a recent interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “The writers very uniquely either put in our mouths some bit of advice for Kanan that he internalizes and is considering as he makes the decisions that he makes. So, whatever he’s reflecting on internally it is voiced in a lot of our scenes. We’re like a consciousness for Kanan when he meets with Snaps and Pop.”
A cautionary tale
Pierce said that while shows like Raising Kanan attract people thanks to the drama of it all, it is also a cautionary tale and only reflects a small percentage.
“This is the 1% of our community that is causing mayhem, danger and violence. Ninety-nine percent of our community is made up of hard-working folks who are making a way out of no way,” he said. “So, it’s the cautionary tale for those who may be tempted to go to that underground economy and risk that there will be consequences like that danger and violence, and hopefully, you make a different choice.”
Woods added, “I also think Kanan is crying out for help. We could all learn something and see a bit of ourselves in Kanan, no matter where you are or where you fall in our community. But it is important, like Wendell said, to know that this is just a very small percentage of us that is reflected in the show, and so it is a cautionary tale of what can happen when you may choose the wrong path, or when your community doesn’t uplift you in ways that I know that it can. When you watch our show and Kanan’s journey, it’s fun, interesting and exciting to watch it through those eyes.”
The beauty of “art imitates life”
When asked what makes the pair a force both in business and life, Woods said it’s the couple’s loyalty to one another and their Black love.
“They’re just a force to be reckoned with,” she said of Snaps and Pop. “They’re a married couple and very loyal to each other. They have each other’s back, and that in itself is a weapon to me.”
As a couple, Pierce and Woods have their secret ingredient for translating the love they share for one another to the characters that they play on the show.
“We first met as colleagues, as actors, so that defines our relationship off-screen and on-screen,” Pierce said. “We shared the same desire to be artists. We shared the vocation, the thing that we’re called to do, and that’s where we found our commonality and our chemistry, both professionally and, you know, personally. So, it’s doing the work. I have a mantra: You know the greatest relationship you’ll ever have was between you and your work because it speaks to who you are and your truth, and when you see that in someone else, you share that common ground, it creates chemistry.”
He added, “So it’s the desire to be artists that we found in each other that is something that you see brings people together. Tonight, we’re going to go and see LaTanya Richardson Jackson. … I came to New York in 1981, and I remember when Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya were working together then. And you see it proliferated throughout our community. The other night, I saw Denzel in Othello and Pauletta Washington. You know they met when they were doing a movie together. So you see it within our community of actors all the time. Actors love actors, so the work brings them together on- and off-screen.”
Do personal moments shape what we see on screen?
Woods said she enjoys doing some of the work solo while shaping a scene but that she appreciates that her partner leads with a big heart.
“Wendell is such a giving actor that regardless of our relationship, he and I would have that same professionalism and way of work. So I don’t think it changes it,” she said. “It just enhances it. I’m very comfortable with him, and we like to ask the same questions about our characters, develop a back story, and have a great time working on the material. And you hope that you find that in everyone you work with. I’ve just been lucky. So far, I’ve had an excellent journey.”
Black love on and off the Hollywood screen is not a rarity
Pierce was very clear that what he shares with Woods is not a rarity in Black Hollywood; in fact, it is more often than not the norm.
“What Erika and I have as artists and the personal relationship we have, as I pointed out, it’s not a rarity. I pointed out the couples who were artists who I’ve seen over the past 40 years display artistry together on and off the screen and the stage,” the Waiting to Exhale actor said. “Add to that, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. So you have it today demonstrated in those couples, Courtney and Angela, Pauletta and Denzel, LaTanya and Samuel L., but it was also in the past when you had Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.”
“It’s not something that’s rare; it’s also in that same sort of category, like The Wire, where Black love is on demonstration and it never gets the recognition,” Pierce continued. “And so we must remember that as we put it out there, that that sort of thing is not rare in our community, but that is something that has been a historically traditional part of our community.”
Watch Wendell Pierce as Snaps and Erika Woods as Pop in the latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan. New episodes are released every Friday on the STARZ app at 12 a.m. ET, with the show airing on television at 8 p.m. ET.
