Power Rangers movie has found its Zordon

Having already cast the excellent Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa, how do you go about that? Find somebody equally brilliant for the opposite role. And the creators of the new Power Rangers movie have certainly done that, having managed to land none other than Breaking Bad and Malcolm In the Middle star Bryan Cranston.

The news was broken – as has become customary  – on Twitter from the official Power Rangers account:

And the actor was similarly enthused:

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Zordon takes the form of a giant floating head (for reasons that we can’t remember) in the Rangers’ command centre, from which he briefs them on their latest mission and generally provides exposition. If anyone can do this, Cranston can – and we know he’ll be excellent.

As he alludes to in his tweet, Cranston also has an interesting history with the franchise. Back in the day, he provided voiceover work for a number of the characters (such as villains Snizard and Twinman), and the original Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston, was actually named after him.

We guess that explains why the film was able to attract someone of his calibre, but that’s definitely no bad thing. Since Breaking Bad it feels like he’s had his pick of roles, and the fact that he’s chosen this one is good enough for us.

Cranston joins a cast that already includes Ludi Lin (Black Ranger Zack), Naomi Scott (Pink Ranger Kimberly), RJ Cyler (Blue Ranger Billy), Becky G (Yellow Ranger Trini), and Dacre Montgomery, and of course Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) is directing from a script penned by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, John Gatins, Matt Sazana, Burk Sharpless and Max Landis.

Power Rangers will be released in cinemas on 24 March 2017. For more news about the latest movies, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.