In 2020, Hasbro turned to Jonathan Entwistle (Karate Kid: Legends) and Jenny Klein (Daisy Jones & The Six) to serve as showrunners on a Power Rangers reboot for Netflix.
Four years later, that version of the project was scrapped, with Hasbro instead choosing to hand the keys to the Power Rangers kingdom to Disney+ and Percy Jackson and the Olympians creatives Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz. That similarly failed to come to fruition, and the last update we got was rumours that Prime Video might be planning to acquire the rights to the iconic series.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, a first look at concept art from Netflix's Power Rangers has now been revealed. Shared by artist Samuel Garcia, he says these pieces are from a "cancelled Power Rangers project from a few years back," making Entwistle and Klein's take the most likely possibility.
While these were exploratory suit designs rather than the final versions, it seems the plan was to put a modern spin on the Rangers while remaining true to their classic look from the 1990s.
We also see that the plan was for the Red Ranger to be a young Asian woman (possibly Wildwood's Peyton Elizabeth Lee), though she wouldn't have been the first female character to don that suit and lead the team in the franchise's storied history. The Green and Blue Rangers are also featured, and both have very different physiques.
Entwistle has previously teased his Multiversal vision for the property and said he planned to establish Tommy Oliver and the mythology surrounding him as the centre of a Power Rangers Universe. Lord Drakkon, an evil version of Tommy, was set to be the main villain.
We don't know what Steinberg and Shotz have planned for Disney+'s Power Rangers, but there were once rumours about Priyanka Chopra being eyed for Rita Repulsa. Mason Thames, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Shaun Dixon, Paris Bravo, Judd Goodstein, Momoma Tamada, Christian Alexander Cruz, and Kira McLean were said to all be in the mix to play these new Rangers.
Power Rangers fans will be hoping that whatever comes next for the franchise fares better than the 2017 movie that attempted to put a superhero spin on the characters. It grossed only $142 million worldwide on a $100 million budget, slamming the door shut on sequel plans.
Check out the full gallery of Power Rangers concept art in the Instagram posts below.