The new crime drama starring Y’lan Noel, Matthew Law, Gabrielle Dennis and Cleopatra Coleman premieres on Netflix on May 14.
There’s no high as a television producer or showrunner than knowing everyone is watching or discussing your show at the same time. Courtney A. Kemp knows the feeling far too well with the “Power” universe for Starz. Every Sunday from 2014 to 2021, Kemp helmed the original “Power” and the first two seasons of “Power Book II: Ghost” before exiting her Lionsgate deal.
Her first major move? Work with Netflix and sign a massive deal. The first fruit to fall from that planted tree? “Nemesis,” featuring Y’lan Noel (“Insecure,” “The First Purge”), Matthew Law (Tyler Perry’s “The Oval,” “Abbott Elementary”) and Gabrielle Dennis (“A Black Lady Sketch Show”).
“It was time. It was time for me to move and do something else,” Kemp said of her departure in 2021. After having to fill the content calendar with three separate shows on the network during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating felt less free and more like “air traffic control” in her eyes.
Thus, it was time to let go and let God.
“It wasn’t writing. It wasn’t creating,” Kemp said. “It was all this pressure, and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I have to be honest with you. I didn’t want to do that part. I wanted to make stuff.”
For fans of “Power,” her first show outside that universe still has many of the same elements that made the original series a beloved watch on Starz. Returning to a crime drama, Kemp swaps the streets of New York for the glamour of Los Angeles and two men who might be complete opposites in terms of career paths, but share so many similarities.
Think “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, with Kemp’s own flair for storytelling.
“We definitely wanted to address the idea of a nemesis, someone who takes you down because of you,” Kemp told Netflix. “You make all the wrong decisions because of them, and you blow up your whole life by making bad choices.”
The heart of the series centers around Coltrane Wilder (Noel) and Isaiah Stiles (Law). Wilder, a “reformed” con who is now an entrepreneur but still plots and executes jewelry heists from time to time. Stiles is the hard-nose cop with enough flaws to blur the lines between good and bad. Even when the idea of who is the hero versus who is the villain is laid out, the show, not to mention Noel and Law, makes it really hard to differentiate between the two.
“Nemesis” is set to premiere on Netflix on May 14. The show, co-created by Kemp and Tani Marole, also stars Cleopatra Coleman as Wilder’s wife, Ebony and even has Shane Johnson, aka Cooper Saxe from the Power Universe, appearing as a recurring character. Mario Van Peebles also serves as an executive director and will direct the series’ first two episodes. Watch the trailer above.
