After directing many episodes of Power Rangers Ninja Steel, New Zealand director and producer Simon Bennett became the executive producer/showrunner of Hasbro's Power Rangers franchise in 2019, replacing franchise veteran Judd Lynn.
Bennett led the creative charge on Power Rangers Dino Fury seasons 1 and 2 and will also spearhead development on the upcoming 30th season of the Super Sentai adaptation, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury.
However, in a new interview with the Florida International University-based fan blog, Heat'D, Bennett revealed that there was originally only going to be one season of Dino Fury.
Said Bennett:
"Hasbro’s main interest was always in the Young Adult Jonathan Entwhistle series that had been in development since late 2019 or early 2020. This was intended to be a hard reboot, more sophisticated, aimed at an older audience, without any dependency on Sentai or established canon. However, development seemed to be going very slowly. I don’t think Dino Fury season 2, or Cosmic Fury would have happened if it had been ready. These were stop-gap seasons intended to keep the show ticking over and supporting toy sales in the meantime. When development resumes on the Entwhistle project after the Hollywood strikes finish, I wouldn’t expect to see it going into Production until late 2024 at the earliest - so on-air sometime in 2025."
Here's a short recap of the franchise's production history:
- 1993-2001 Saban Entertainment and Fox Family jointly produce Power Rangers seasons 1-9 (starting with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and ending with Power Rangers Time Force) under the Fox Kids brand name
- 2001 - 2009 Disney buys Saban Entertainment and Fox Family and rebrands it as Buena Vista Studios; Power Rangers is released under the Jetix and ABC Family brand names starting with season 10- Power Rangers Wild Force and ending with season 17- Power Rangers RPM
- 2010-2021 Saban buys back the Power Rangers franchise from Disney and new episodes air on Nickelodeon, beginning with season 18- Power Rangers Samurai and concluding with season 28 - the first season of Power Rangers Dino Fury (some Dino Fury episodes actually premiered on Netflix before airing on Nickelodeon)
- 2018 Near the end of the franchise's Nickelodeon run, Hasbro purchased the Power Rangers franchise from Saban in June 2018, after previously partnering with the company for toys. Hasbro was contractually obligated to honor Saban's pre-existing agreement with Nickelodeon even though Hasbro already had a partnership with Netflix: Hasbro took over production duties on seasons 26 and 27: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
- 2022-2023 Netflix becomes the exclusive home of Power Rangers Dino Fury, airing season 29- Dino Fury season 2 and the forthcoming season 30 - Power Rangers Cosmic Fury
- 2024/25 The YA reboot of the Power Rangers franchise will air on Netflix. Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World, I Am Not Okay with This) is leading development.
In 2020, Hasbro revealed plans for an ambitious reboot of Power Rangers that would be aimed at young adults instead of little kids. However, it seems that development on the reboot is taking longer than expected, prompting Hasbro to allow Bennett to continue the Dino Fury storyline through three seasons.
Cosmic Fury is generating a lot of buzz within the Power Rangers fandom as it will be the first time a woman becomes the full-time Red Ranger (team leader) when Hunter Deno's Amelia Jones transitions from the Pink Dino Fury Ranger to the Red Cosmic Fury Ranger.
However, Russell Curry's Zayto is also returning as he moves on from being the Red Dino Fury Ranger and becomes the Zenith Cosmic Fury Ranger.
Some Power Rangers fans are speculating that despite Amelia becoming the Red Ranger (a position that usually denotes the team's leader) in season 30, Zayto will still lead the team, similar to how Tommy Oliver's White Ranger became the leader of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers despite Jason Scott still suiting up as the Red Ranger.
Whether that proves to be the case we'll have to wait until the show debuts on September 29.
Another similarity that Cosmic Fury has with the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series is that it will mark the first time that the show will have the exact same cast for more than two seasons since the original Angel Grove teens were summoned by Zordon back in 1993.
Rounding out the cast are Kai Moya as Ollie Akana, the Blue Cosmic Fury Ranger, Tessa Rao as Izzy Garcia, the Green Cosmic Fury Ranger, Chance Perez as Javier Garcia, the Black Cosmic Fury Ranger, Jordon Fite as Aiyon, the Gold Cosmic Fury Ranger, and Jacqueline Joe as Fern, the Orange Cosmic Fury Ranger.
Original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers actor David Yost returns as Billy Cranston, who will act as the team's mentor and provide insight into fighting Lord Zedd.
Cosmic Fury will drop all 10 episodes on September 29. The upcoming season will also mark the last season that the show films in New Zealand. While unconfirmed, it's thought that future installments will once again be filmed in Los Angeles, where the first 10 seasons were filmed.
When Disney purchased the franchise, filming moved to New Zealand with 2003's Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
When Lord Zedd returns more powerful than ever, Team Cosmic Fury takes to the cosmos to battle the emperor of evil - and save the universe as we know it.