The premium cable network announced Thursday that the upcoming sixth season would be Power‘s last. The final season will return Aug. 25 for a supersized farewell consisting of 15 episodes (up from its standard run of 10). Meanwhile, Power creator and showrunner Courtney A. Kemp is prepping potential spinoffs of the franchise under her most recent overall deal with Starz corporate parent Lionsgate TV.
“Season six brings us to the end of what we know is just the first chapter of the Power story. However, as one chapter comes to an end, another will begin,” Starz programming president Carmi Zlotnik said. “Courtney Kemp and 50 Cent have created a world rich with complex and dynamic characters, and there are a number of stories we plan to tell as we continue to explore and expand the Power universe.”
Power ranks as Starz’s most watched original series since it launched in 2014. The series, a two-time NAACP Image Award winner, averaged 10 million multiplatform viewers in its fifth season last year. The drama starring Omari Hardwick airs in more than 120 countries around the world.
“We will follow some of your beloved Power characters beyond the scope of the initial series,” Kemp said. “But we will play with your expectations of which characters, where and the master timeline of it all, creating a Power universe as unpredictable as the original.”
Season six will feature the directorial debut of exec producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who will helm the third installment. Anthony Hemingway — who directed the first two episodes of the series — will return to helm the series finale.
“The last five seasons of Power have been an incredible ride for me and all of our supportive fans. We are far from over, and I am excited to bring you more from the Power brand,” Jackson said. “I am proud that I was able to put a lasting stamp on this chapter with my directorial debut in an episode that features one of the wildest scenes ever on the show.”
Power wraps as Starz continues to further integrate with new corporate parent Lionsgate and at a time when the cabler has yet to replace CEO Chris Albrecht, who departed amid a turf war with Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer.
Starz’s scripted roster includes Outlander, Vida, Sweetbitter, The Rook, The Spanish Princess, Now Apocalypse and American Gods, among others.
The push to build a franchise out of Power arrives as broadcast, cable and streaming outlets alike look to proven IP in a bid to cut through a cluttered landscape expected to top 500 scripted originals in 2019.
Power becomes the latest high-profile, network-defining series to end in 2019, joining HBO’s Game of Thrones, Showtime’s Homeland, CBS’ Big Bang Theory, Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and scores of others.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
