×

Power” kicks off its third season with a bang, sending its main characters into dramatically different directions from when we last saw them in season two.

Keeping the pot boiling is part of the design of the show, creator/exec producer Courtney Kemp said Wednesday night as the show toasted its July 17 premiere at Manhattan’s Top of the Standard. The club was so shoulder-to-shoulder packed after the season premiere screening at the SVA Theater that it was hard to take in its famous view of the Hudson River.

“It just keeps getting more intense,” Kemp said of the third season. “Power” revolves around a prominent New York City nightclub owner, played by Omari Hardwick, who is trying to shed his past life as a drug dealer. But that process becomes infinitely more complicated for the character. “The power dynamics in the show really shift this year,” Kemp promises. “It’s more hard-hitting.”

There’s no question, however, about the power dynamic behind the scenes. Starz president-CEO Chris Albrecht hailed Kemp’s stewardship of the show, which ranks as Starz’s most-watched drama series overall.

“Courtney is among the very best showrunners I have had the good fortune to be associated with,” Albrecht said. “The growth that this show has experienced is exciting and we have all benefitted from it. With these epic serialized shows, it’s easy to have the characters become less interesting, but she makes them more interesting.”

Film biz veteran Mark Canton, an exec producer of “Power,” said his experience on the show has convinced him to dive deeper into TV. He has numerous projects percolating through his first-look deal with Starz. “Power” marks Canton’s second TV series, following the 1999-2001 WB Network dramedy “Jack and Jill.”

“We’re so excited to be working in TV,” Canton said. “I produced five movies this year, so it’s not for lack of stuff to do. But there’s so much that we want to do.”