Everything We Know About the Power Rangers Sequel

Claire Lim
Movies
Movies

It’s been little over a year since last year’s Power Rangers movie hit the big screen, hoping to indulge Millennials’ 90s nostalgia, relaunching the brand, and giving the gang a new lease of life. However, despite the studio’s high hopes, the movie was met with mixed reviews.

The film followed a group of teens charged with defending the Zeo Crystal from evil villainess Rita Repulsa (also the Power Rangers’ principle nemesis in the 90s TV shows). There were cries of ‘this is so bad it’s good’ to ‘this is just plain awful’ but despite the criticism the reboot received, it seems a sequel is already in the works.

The Power Rangers franchise was built around the 1990s live-action TV series — The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — with the original license being owned by Saban Entertainment. This year, however, toy giant Hasbro was named the new master toy licensee and acquired the rights to the franchise along with other Saban brands worth over $500 million. Their first products will be available in Spring 2019, which all fits into their plan for Power Rangers and a sequel.

Yes, the film didn’t make much sense, and the performances weren’t exactly Oscar-worthy, but with the powers that be pushing forward, here’s everything we know right now about the proposed Power Rangers.

Those End Credits

The old end credits scene trick — stick one in to get fans excited and hope for the best for a sequel (which seems to have worked in this instance). Last year’s Power Rangers movie already left the story pretty open with an end credit scene that got fans excited for the possibility of the sixth ranger — the Green Ranger –making his or her debut in the sequel. At the end of the movie, a teacher calls out for “Tommy Oliver” and the camera pans onto an empty desk with a green jacket. The Green Ranger was originally played by Jason David Frank in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series and both the cast and Frank have expressed an interest in possibly having a female Green Ranger for the sequel.

However, there’s also the possibility of a Green Ranger solo series, for TV or the big screen as Frank has expressed on various occasions. Speaking to Comicbook.com Frank said that he’s been wanting this for a while now and won’t let it go:

“I’m not letting the cat out of the bag, but the fanbase is starting to generate what’s going on. Now with the Soul of the Dragon book being released in December, it’s a solo Green Ranger book. It’s the Old Man Logan book that I wanted in the past. We’ve talked, I mean Aaron’s pitched this thing a long time ago, the Green Ranger.”

Jason David Franks is talking about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Soul Of The Dragon original graphic novel celebrating the 25th anniversary of the franchise, which delves into the next chapter of the iconic Green Ranger’s story; his later years. Frank served as special consultant on the book for writer Kyle Higgins (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Nightwing) and artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Justice League vs Suicide Squad).

Explaining further to Mix 96.1 Frank says he talked about the franchise with Saban and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner and said, “We want to know if the Green Ranger is going to interfere with the reboot of the movie and it’s not so we want to take that and spin it into a Green Ranger series.”

This Is Just The Beginning

Power Rangers fans will be very pleased to hear that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Although details are few and far between in terms of plot, cast and director at this point, there have been details about the general future of the franchise with Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner saying that the Power Rangers brand has “significant opportunity for growth.”

Goldner went on to mention that 2019 will be a “transition year” for the Power Rangers and with collectibles set to hit shelves in 2020, could a sequel land in conjunction with the toys a year later?

Early reports suggest that Hasbro is meeting with various entities to try and get the project off the ground. Having spent a lot of money on acquiring the rights to various brands from Saban, Hasbro mean business and there’s definitely money to be made if the franchise is handled correctly, especially with the Marvel Cinematic Universe paving the way; execs have dollar signs burned into their retinas.

The Future

There is so much lore yet to explore with the Power Rangers and diehard fans are keen for a sequel. But with with information currently sparse, perhaps they’re taking a ‘toys first’ approach to building more of a younger, fervent fan base around the franchise, building momentum before green-lighting a sequel.

For now, fans can only speculate about what the sequel may look like. With the end credits scene suggesting the Green Ranger will enter the mix, perhaps this is the start of Tommy Oliver’s journey, which will eventually pave the way for the Green Ranger’s own solo series. Maybe we’ll also get to see the White Ranger.

Whatever Hasbro’s plans are, it will be interesting to see how they develop the lore and characters going forward, hopefully maintaining the fun of the original series.

Claire Lim
Presenter, writer and Twitch Partner, keeping it positive and nerdy - as seen on BBC, NME and at MCM Comic Con.