When Courtney A. Kemp created the crime thriller, Power, it turned into an entire universe of TV shows that are still riding high today on Starz. Now, she’s looking to possibly do the same thing for Netflix with the release of her new series, which drops today on the streaming service. Co-created by Tani Marole, it’s hard not to compare Kemp’s new crime thriller, Nemesis, to the Power Universe. After all, they both feature morally gray characters on both sides of the law, complex family relationships, and high-energy storytelling with lots of melodrama, twists, and betrayal. However, where Power is basically a crime-family soap opera, Netflix’s newest series is more of a serialized cat-and-mouse heist thriller that’s also drawn comparisons to the Michael Mann classic, Heat.
‘Nemesis’ Wears Its ‘Heat’ References on Its Sleeve

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Stepping into the roles of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Nemesis are Y’lan Noel and Matthew Law. Noel plays criminal mastermind, Coltrane Wilder, who is responsible for a string of heists across Los Angeles. Law fittingly plays the detective out to thwart him, Isaiah Stiles. As Stiles’ obsession with stopping Wilder grows, though, the line between hero and villain begins to blur, pulling both men deeper into a violent world shaped by loyalty, family, and personal codes of honor. While it’s obviously not a direct remake of Heat, Nemesis is clearly a crime thriller that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Not only are Noel and Law stand-ins for De Niro and Pacino, but the climactic shootout in the Netflix show features a daring daylight heist that ends with the criminals (wearing hockey masks, of course) in a fierce gun battle with law enforcement on the streets of Century City, Los Angeles. As Daniel Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter puts it in their review:
“The bigger-picture nods to Heat, however, are everywhere in Nemesis, to the point that if you told me Nemesis had been developed as a straight-up series remake of Heat only to transition from ‘adapted from’ to ‘inspired by’ to ‘uncredited,’ I would believe it.”
That being said, Nemesis is Heat if it were written and directed by Tyler Perry. Kemp brings everything we love about the Power Universe over to Netflix, leaning much harder into themes of masculinity, fatherhood, marriage, and obsession. It’s the spiritual cousin to Power, if you will, focusing more on psychology than violence.
Will There Be a Season 2 of ‘Nemesis’?

Y’lan Noel and Matthew Law in NemesisNetflix

For those that binge-watch all eight episodes of Nemesis in a single sitting, you’ll easily want more of the explosive crime thriller. There are multiple cliffhangers and questions (both internal and external) that go unanswered, leaving the door wide open for a second season.

However, Netflix has yet to give Nemesis Season 2 the green light, so the show’s future remains uncertain at this point. It will all depend on how well the series does in terms of viewership numbers, and the reception it gets from critics and audiences alike. Thus far, the show doesn’t have enough reviews to give it a score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the few it does have are mostly positive, so that’s a good sign. All eight episodes of Nemesis are streaming now on Netflix.

Release Date

May 14, 2026

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Courtney A. Kemp, Tani Marole

Cast

Michael Potts

James Sealey

Y’lan Noel

Coltrane Wilder

Matthew Law

Isaiah Stiles

Cleopatra Coleman

Ebony Wilder