Barely twenty-four hours have passed since Lionsgate scooped up Ludi Lin to play the Black costumed hero, and it’s been confirmed that RJ Cyler will fill the role of the Blue Ranger in the studio’s live-action Power Rangers movie.
After breaking onto the scene in indie tear-jerker Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Cyler now becomes the fourth key member of Lionsgate’s big-screen of the famed 90s phenomenon, and the casting was made official a little earlier via Twitter.
Ranger Nation! Welcome @RJ_Cyler to the #PowerRangers Movie team as the Blue Ranger! More: https://t.co/yFLUn9ORhN pic.twitter.com/KZOlHx4zEI
— Power Rangers (@PowerRangers) October 23, 2015
With Lin and Cyler now on board as the Black and Blue Rangers, respectively, Power Rangers will also feature Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger and The Martian’s Naomi Scott as the Pink costumed hero, staying true to director Dean Israelite’s ambition to cast relative unknowns for his budding blockbuster.
Working from a script penned by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, Lionsgate is very much angling the 2017 release as an origins story, looking into the formative years of a group of teenagers bestowed with strange, alien powers. But with great power comes great, towering Megazords, and we’re cautiously optimistic that Israelite and his newfound team will be able to turn the child-friendly franchise into an engaging feature film. Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur are all producing for Lionsgate.
We assume that the fifth – and likely final – casting announcement for the live-action movie will welcome the arrival of the Yellow Ranger, and given how quickly the studio has filled those aforementioned roles, we should hear official word before long.
Power Rangers will debut in theaters on January 13th, 2017.
Published: Oct 23, 2015 02:37 pm