“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz are in talks to write, showrun and produce a live-action “Power Rangers” series for Disney+ and 20th Century TV, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
Hasbro will produce the series, which will reinvent the franchise for a whole new generation of fans while delighting those who already know and love the world of Power Rangers.
The ’90s TV show, originally called “The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers,” was inspired by a Japanese children’s show, “Super Sentai” (even using footage from that show). It featured five teenagers who gain the ability to “morph” into superheroes known as the Power Rangers, complete with their own mech fighters. A film version of the series that starred most of the original cast was released in 1995, with a second one in 1997 (this one featured only a few original cast members).
The series has had many different iterations throughout the past 25 years.
Lionsgate and Saban Film attempted to reboot the original “Power Rangers” franchise in 2017 as a gritty, YA adaptation. The film grossed only $142 million on a budget of around $100 million, scrapping hopes for a bigger franchise.
Hasbro then acquired Power Rangers in 2018 in a deal designed to capitalize on the franchise’s full potential across all of the company’s divisions.
The development of “Power Rangers” is part of Hasbro Entertainment’s ongoing strategy to elevate storytelling and produce series based on Hasbro’s most iconic brands alongside the industry’s best talent, studios and distribution platforms. Beyond “Power Rangers,” Hasbro Entertainment’s active projects include a re-imagining of “Clue” across film and television with Sony’s TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Television; a live-action “Dungeons & Dragons” series “Forgotten Realms,” currently in development at Netflix with Academy Award nominee Shawn Levy executive producing; showrunner Terry Matalas’ animated “Magic: The Gathering” series, currently in production at Netflix; a major, live-action film and television universe adapted from “Magic: The Gathering,” produced alongside Legendary Entertainment; and game shows based on “Trivial Pursuit” and “Scrabble,” which both premiered on The CW this past fall.
Steinberg and is currently the co-creator, executive producer and showrunner of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” for Disney+, along with his producing partner Shotz. It just wrapped its second season and has been renewed for a third. Other credits include the critically acclaimed series “The Old Man,” starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow for FX. Both series are produced by 20th Television/The Walt Disney Company, where Steinberg and Shotz have housed their production company, Quaker Moving Pictures, since 2019.
Shotz and Steinberg are repped by WME.
