‘The Power’ Boss on Letting Teenage Girls Be Violent Heroes
Preview
This seductive nine-episode sci-fi series has an empowering premise: Teen girls worldwide develop a new capability — to seize electric currents from within and direct them at will, letting the waves loose via “electric hands.”
In The Power, the girls develop organs that imbue them with their new abilities, changing the lives of everyone in Seattle in the process. Mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez, played by Toni Collette, is mother to one of the teens, Jos (Auli’i Cravalho). She and her husband, Rob (John Leguizamo), try to help their daughter, but Margot being the mayor of Seattle adds a complicated layer to their situation. When the government tries to control the suddenly electrifying girls, a revolution sparks.
The Power cast includes Toheeb Jimoh as Tunde Ojo, Josh Charles as Daniel Dandon, Eddie Marsan as Bernie Monke, Ria Zmitrowicz as Roxy Monke, Zrinka Cvitešić as Tatiana Moskalev, Halle Bush as Allie Montgomery, and more.
Prime Video
With lightning-bolt earrings flashing, Raelle Tucker (True Blood), the program’s Emmy-nominated executive producer and showrunner, plugged us into the powerful displays to come in The Power, premiering Friday, March 31 on Prime Video.
The Power was a 2016 feminist sci-fi thriller novel. Did its author, Naomi Alderman, play a role in the show?
Raelle Tucker: Yes. She wrote the pilot and co-wrote another episode. She was in the writers’ room. We laughed all the way.
Margot Cleary-Lopez and her husband Rob wake to find their 17-year-old daughter, Jos, has set the kitchen on fire. What do they do, ground her?
Well, Margot is a grounding force in the show. Seattle’s mayor, she is also an unapologetically ambitious mother of three. Rob is a doctor. We explore how power can bring a family together but also tear it apart.
How do Jos, Roxy, Tatiana, and Allie embody girl power?
[The teens] develop a new organ. It generates electricity. The power spreads and it changes the world spiritually, politically, and socially.
Girls use it to fight racism, even rape. Violently! Good, but frightening too?
Teenage girls have always been scary. What’s different is, female characters are allowed to be heroes and do terrible things.
The Power, Series Premiere Friday, March 31, Prime Video
This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s April issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the April issue, currently on newsstands or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
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