Live-Action Power Rangers Series Dead at Disney+

The Power Rangers franchise has been on the upswing in recent months thanks to a successful Re-Ignition toyline and three new comic series from BOOM! Studios, and fans were also excited about a live-action series in development for Disney+. Unfortunately, that live-action series has received an incredibly disappointing update, as the project is reportedly dead and no longer happening.

A new report from Deadline states that the live-action Power Rangers series from Percy Jackson and the Olympians showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz is no longer moving forward at Disney+. The reason for the cancelled development is reportedly tied to the overall budget as well as the general economics of launching a new superhero series when you don’t own the IP. In this case, Hasbro owns the Power Rangers brand, not Disney.

The Disney+ Power Rangers Series Had Major Potential

It’s a shame that we won’t get to see this iteration of the franchise hit the small screen, as leaked story beats and plotlines already sounded intriguing and held immense potential. The premise of a new cast of characters becoming Power Rangers is already interesting, especially when you factor in that no one knows what happened to the original Power Rangers team and that this is the first team of Rangers in decades.

The new Rangers would still use the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers colors, but it’s also revealed that, for some reason, no one remembers the original Ranger team. There are several strange anomalies happening all throughout the city, which could be tied to a new female villain.

A new group of characters opens up all kinds of possibilities and allows the group to stand out in their own unique ways as opposed to just being adaptations of the original teens. The villain aspect is also intriguing, and while one does assume Rita might be involved, it could be a twist on Rita like we’ve seen in the recent comics.

Unfortunately, the series looks to be dead in the water, at least when it comes to Disney+. Hopefully, a live-action series will come to fruition at some point, but for now it looks like the Power Rangers are going to be sidelined from television a little bit longer.

As for other screen adaptations, there is reportedly a live-action movie in development over at Paramount, but we haven’t received an update on that project for a while. That makes a lot of sense actually given that Paramount has been busy trying to push through its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, so until that’s complete, it might be a while longer before we hear anything else. Fans have also wanted an animated series, but nothing has ever seemed to materialize on that front either. Perhaps with the live-action series going back to square one, an animated project could finally step into the spotlight, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

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