Bryan Cranston better not develop a big head after this announcement, if you know what I’m saying. The Power Rangers movie reboot, which stars a new batch of teenagers with attitude and Elizabeth Banks as the villain Rita Repulsa, has just added the Breaking Bad star.
As announced on the official Twitter account for the film, Cranston will play none other than the Rangers’ fearless floating head leader Zordon.
If you didn’t know, this is appropriate on so many levels considering the actor’s history with the franchise. As he explained during a past interview with IGN, “One of my jobs as a young actor starting out was voiceover. I also did dubbing.” He added that “one of the places that did a lot of that was Saban Entertainment,” the home of Power Rangers. A voice gig that was later brought up during his various late-night talk show rounds, he voiced the villains Snizard and Twinman. If that wasn’t already an incredible piece of trivia, the original Blue Ranger (named Billy Cranston) was named after him.
Here’s video proof of Cranston voicing Snizard.
Cranston joins the already cast Ludi Lin (Black Ranger Zack), Naomi Scott (Pink Ranger Kimberly), RJ Cyler (Blue Ranger Billy), Becky G (Yellow Ranger Trini), and Dacre Montgomery (Red Ranger Jason). As production designer Andrew Menzies explained, the new suits of the “alien costume” variety “that grows on them, that’s not man-made.” In short, less spandex, more Iron Man. Assuming the film, directed by Dean Israelite, is sticking with the original character lineup, then the only other major new addition left to be announced is Zordon’s trusty droid Alpha 5. (Though, to be clear, he’s not confirmed.)
Today also brought word that the first Power Rangers teaser poster will drop on Wednesday, while revealing the tagline to be “Together we are more.” The film is scheduled to debut in theaters on March 24, 2017.
