One of the main villains of Lionsgate’s Power Rangers reboot has been cast as Elizabeth Banks joins the production as Rita Repulsa. The former Hunger Games actress will play the iconic witch who was one of the main characters of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Lionsgate revealed via Instagram.
Being a cohort of Lord Zed, Repulsa was one of the more regular evils the Rangers found themselves up against. Banks joins the full cast of Power Rangers that have been cast, but as yet minimal plot details have been revealed other than the film is expected to heavily echo the first season of the ’90s TV show.
Written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, the movie, simply titled Power Rangers, is due for release April 2017. Project Almanac director Dean Israelite is taking on the director’s chair for the feature, which will be the third Power Rangers film. The previous two, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, were directly associated with the TV shows, bringing mostly the same actors from TV to film. This is the first production not tying into any of the still ongoing TV iterations as it’s meant to be a full reboot of the franchise for a new audience. Despite everything, we are curios as to how the Power Rangers look without the campy look of their ’90s lineage.
Power Rangers is going to morph cinemas in April, 2017.