The Power is a story about women spontaneously and simultaneously getting the power to shoot electricity out of their hands, and how the world reacts to it, and any person with estrogen in their body is able to get it as the book’s author Naomi Alderman explained. So, when adapting the new series, she wanted to make sure she included all types of women and people with estrogen. She told CinemaBlend about how proud she was of that representation in the Amazon Prime series, and how they were able to add new characters, specifically a trans woman, into the show.
Alderman gushed about Daniela Vega when asked about her favorite change made for The Power TV show. The author explained that in the years since the book came out, many fans have asked her why she didn’t write a transgender character into the story. So, when it came time for The Power to get its book-to-screen adaptation, she wanted to make sure there was trans representation in the series, saying:
So, in the book, as readers have pointed out to me, fans have pointed out over the past few years, I have an intersex character, but I don't have any trans characters. And I started writing the book in 2011. And I just didn't think of it and subsequently, I've had many wonderful conversations as fans of the book were just like ‘Come on.’ So I'm extremely delighted that we have the wonderful actress Daniela Vega, who is a trans actress who is playing a trans character, Sister Maria, in the show, and we get into her story and it's not a spoiler to say that in the show, it's explicitly clear that you get the electric skein if you've got estrogen in your body. So trans women are women.
In the show, Vega plays a central role as Sister Maria Ignacia, a woman who leads a convent of nuns who take in runaway girls with the power. Maria is a trans woman who is rejected by her family after coming out, she goes to the covenant, and her fellow sister is excommunicated for taking her in. Her story quickly becomes intertwined with Halle Bush’s character Allie, who is a sort of prophet with the power as they go on a spiritual journey with this newfound power.
Vega described Sister Maria’s story as “a beautiful message,” to NBC News, and said she was fascinated by her character’s relationship to her faith. She joined a cast of women from all around the world for The Power, and along with her story Alderman and her fellow executive producer Tim Bricknell mentioned a few other new characters that helped increase representation on the Amazon series.
Bricknell explained that other new additions to the series included John Leguizamo’s character Rob, as well as Zoia, who is Tatiana Moskalev’s sister. Alderman also noted the addition of Ndudi (Heather Agyepong), a Nigerian journalist who works with Tunde (Toheeb Jimoh) was a change she was excited about too. The author went on to say that it really meant a lot to her to introduce more diversity into her story, explaning:
I think it's very exciting to have been able to introduce more diversity, actually. And particularly once we started talking to cast who come from diverse backgrounds and fields, [we were like] ‘Come on, let's bring all of that in everybody's experiences go in here.’
The Power weaves together a lot of complex stories, and being able to see so many different women on screen is incredibly empowering. To hear the author speak so highly of the changes made to her story, while also acknowledging the improvements made through the inclusion of Sister Maria and other characters was really sweet. It was also clear how passionate she was about making the story as diverse and inclusive as possible.
New episodes of The Power drop every Friday according to the 2023 TV schedule, and to watch it along with Amazon’s other great shows all you need is an Amazon Prime subscription.
