Dacre Montgomery Reveals Similarities Between His ‘Stranger Things’ & ‘Power Rangers’ Characters

Dacre Montgomery embraced his role as a Power Ranger, but his turn as the edgy Billy in Stranger Things has more in common with the Red Ranger than you might think.

Montgomery played the role of leader Jason in Power Rangers, but Stranger Things‘ Billy is a bit, well, let’s just say less heroic than Jason. That said, Montgomery revealed they do have similarities.

“Yeah, playing someone with such uncertain tendencies, you never know what’s next or what’s around the corner, but what was also interesting was finding the similarities between a protagonist in something like Power Rangers and an antagonist in this,” Montgomery told Nylon. “What do these two kids who are in high school have in common? What is the hero, what is the villain, what is their connection? What are their insecurities?”

The role in season 2 of Stranger Things has brought plenty of attention Mongomery’s way, especially after an amazing audition video turned up for it.

Montgomery’s previous work on Power Rangers was actually his first professional acting role ever, and despite the disappointing box office results, Montgomery couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of it.

“Look, I had an amazing time working on it,” Montgomery said. “My castmates have gone on to do amazing things, it was my very first project, and I learned a lot about myself and stunt training and all kinds of stuff. We opened with Beauty and the Beast, and that was the highest grossing PG-13 film domestically ever, I think. So timing-wise, I think we had a good opening weekend, and we trickled down domestically and didn’t do great overseas.”

The film did bring in over $142 million all told, but that wasn’t what the studio was hoping for. Still, fans are hopeful that a sequel will come around sooner or later.

As for Montgomery, he’s just keeping himself busy and is always looking for the next project. “I’m very lucky that I went straight on to ST2. I’m just looking for that next story, to be honest with you, mate,” Montgomery said. “I’m looking for the thing that is different from the antagonist in Stranger Things, different from the protagonist in Power Rangers, and something that will really continue these two amazing opportunities I’ve been given.”

Stranger Things 2 is available now on Netflix, and Power Rangers is available on digital platforms, Blu-ray, and DVD.