Deadline has reported that Disney+ has scrapped the new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series that has been in development for the last year. Before it landed at Disney, Netflix spent two years developing a Power Rangers franchise, which then fell apart as well. Those Rangers can’t catch a break.
Why Did Disney+ Scrap New Power Rangers Series?
Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz, executive producers/showrunners of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, were developing the Power Rangers series for Disney. Deadline’s report states that the reason for scrapping the series wasn’t a creative choice, but more business-related, specifically, the budget.
Mounting a high-end, live-action superhero series of the caliber of Power Rangers is a major investment, the economics of which are not as favorable when the streamer and/or the producing studio do not own the IP, which is the case here.
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Hasbro owns the Power Rangers brand, and despite Disney+ (and Netflix) calling it quits, I’d imagine someone else will take another crack at it.
The Netflix Series
When the Power Rangers called Netflix home, the franchise would have been more than a simple TV series. Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World) was overseeing a “cinematic universe” which would have included TV shows and movies. Last year, Entwistle shared a few details about the Power Rangers project, including revealing that Tommy Oliver would have been the main focus.
“From as early as 2018 I had created an entire new universe for Power Rangers – kind of a multiverse (it was v fashionable back then haha) I wasn’t doing MMPR specifically, but Tommy Oliver was the center of the world, all the mythology was surrounding him being one of the most important people in the universe… because we all know what he would become,” he said. “So it was basically a time-bending HUGE story about stopping Drakkon from taking power over everything. The TV series had a kind of really cool King Arthur-vibe, that was the angle, more mystical, magical to start us off. Jenny Klein who was writing that show also came up with a very very cool idea for sentient colors… but alas, it never went anywhere. Which sucks, I would’ve LOVED to have made that universe a reality!“
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