Power creator Courtney Kemp has opened up on her decision to move to Netflix for her upcoming new show.
Power became a huge success over the course of its run, spawning four spinoff shows - including the upcoming Power: Origins - that make up the Power television franchise. Kemp's show is widely regarded as one of the best and most underrated crime thrillers of all time, and continues to command interest and viewership, even six years after the original concluded.
Now back with a brand-new show, Nemesis, Kemp has discussed her decision to move away from Starz, and a new partnership with Netflix. In an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns, Kemp talks about her decision and how it felt natural to progress to a larger platform. Check out the exchange below:
ScreenRant: Now, I promise not every question's going to have Power mentioned, but I do want to ask, you spent the last 12 years with Starz on the various Power shows. What was it about Netflix that really made them the perfect partner to bring Nemesis to life?
Courtney Kemp: Oh, well, the thing about Starz and Power, I am so fortunate, I'm so grateful for everything that Starz has done. But that was being a small fish in a small pond. And then, as the universe got bigger, it was like a bigger fish in a small pond. But still, most of our fans don't even watch Power On Starz. They watch it through some other things.
Kemp touches on an interesting point here when mentioning the flexible nature of streaming. Fans can access shows via different platforms, and many of the viewers of Power watched the show through different platforms.
So, it's like, Netflix is everybody [watching] day and date. So, what you'll see is this show is kind of engineered to have almost broader appeal. It's a little bit sunnier. It's a little bit more fun. It's a little bit brighter. If you go back and watch Power — and I don't really go back and watch Power, because when I watch it, I see things that we messed up. But it's dark, it's intimate. It has that feeling of New York. It feels close. It feels cold. It's a winter show.
She goes on to discuss how Netflix is a much bigger platform, and that Nemesis feels geared toward that bigger and more grandiose backdrop. She discusses how the show will be bigger and brighter and a little more fun than Power, which was a grittier, darker show, and more well-suited to a smaller platform.
This is sunny, this is fun. And it has that kind of big, flashy, Netflix-y appeal. If you watch our trailer, it's like, "This is a Netflix trailer. It's big and bold and bad." So that's kind of why.
She ends by talking about how this is a very Netflix-style show, and so it made sense that the show would fit with this platform of choice, and she is seemingly very proud of how big and bold the show is set to be.
The entire season of Nemesis dropped on Netflix on May 13, and the series is currently receiving acclaim as a fun and pulpy show similar to Michael Mann's Heat. Kemp is right that the show feels more suited to life on Netflix and feels like a bigger and more ambitious show. With a sprawling narrative and larger budget, Nemesis feels every inch the Netflix show.
Kemp is right that Nemesis feels like a bigger and bolder show than Power, which felt like it outgrew Starz as a network at times. It's likely Kemp felt that she could not do Nemesis justice as a show by staying with Starz, and having the might and finances of Netflix behind her will certainly have laid the groundwork for her to make the show she wanted.
Kemp and co-creator Tami Marole have crafted a show that is resonating with viewers and critics alike. While the eight-episode crime thriller might have been intended as a limited series, it's likely the Nemesis creators have big plans for the show moving forward, and if they do, Netflix is the place to be.
Nemesis
Release Date May 14, 2026
Network Netflix
Showrunner Courtney A. Kemp, Tani Marole
Directors Mario Van Peebles, Millicent Shelton, Rob Hardy, Ruben Garcia
Cast
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Michael Potts
James Sealey
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Y'lan Noel
Coltrane Wilder
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Matthew Law
Isaiah Stiles
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Cleopatra Coleman
Ebony Wilder




English (US) ·