Netflix has abandoned its project for a live action “Power Rangers” series which had been in preparation for more than two years but all is perhaps not lost…
It’s official, the live action Power Rangers series will not see the light of day on Netflix. Jinsakuu (via TV Line) reports that the show no longer has any place at the streaming giant and that the owner of the franchise, Hasbro Entertainment, would explore a “new creative direction for the series with a new partner.”
However, the project had already found its showrunner in the person of Jenny Klein (Daisy Jones And The Six, Supernatural) who was to work in collaboration with the head of the franchise, Jonathan Entwistle (The End Of The F***ing World).
The first Power Rangers series debuted in 1993, spawning several films and other series, with the TV franchise having seen around twenty variations. As a reminder, the original series tells the story of Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly, five teenagers recruited overnight by Zordon to become a sort of superhero (or super-warrior) in costumes. Together, they must face Rita Repulsa, a fearsome space witch. Since this first series of 3 seasons, the franchise has never left the air again.
In total, 24 seasons, divided into 20 successive series, followed, all giving rise to more than 800 episodes. Last year, the TV movie Power Rangers: Still Moving Forward, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the original series (1993-1995) and the Power Rangers franchise itself, was released on Netflix.
Nickelodeon
When plans for a new live-action series were launched, it was seen as the start of a potential new franchise. eOne’s President of Global Television, Michael Lombardo, said at the time: “We really proposed a global approach. This is not just a series; these are series followed by films, and certain children’s shows.”
We therefore expected that the Power Rangers would start from scratch rather than relying on the 2017 reboot by Dean Israelite, with Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) or Naomi Scott (Aladdin), which had pleased the critics but had failed at the box office. This will not happen. Not at Netflix anyway…
While waiting to know who will perhaps take over the project, Power Rangers: Always Towards the Future can be (re)discovered in streaming on Netflix.