Finally, a first look at the teens who will be morphin’ into Power Rangers.
The first official photo, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, shows the five teenagers who will be battling alien life in the 2017 movie reboot “Power Rangers.” Singer Becky G, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” star RJ Cyler, Naomi Scott, Ludi Lin and Dacre Montgomery will play Trini, Billy, Kimberly, Zack and Jason — the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — respectively. The film, directed by Dean Israelite, will be modernized and is described as a coming-of-age story for these misfit high schoolers.
Israelite told EW that the filmmakers wanted to keep the original show’s diversity while avoiding its race-based color assignments.
“From the very beginning, diversity was a very important part of the whole process,” he said. “We switched all of the races around, but we made sure that the essence of each of those characters are who they were in the original show, and this really will be an origin story of those characters.”
The five kids will be squaring off against Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks. The film’s director spoke to her ability to channel the “insane” legacy of the original series’ first villain.
“You should always be off-balance when you’re watching her,” Israelite said. “Is she insane? Is she totally calculated? Does she know what she’s doing? Elizabeth can toe that line really well.”