Bryan Cranston has had a long and fruitful career, which exploded in recent years due to the popularity of his role in Breaking Bad. The star recently turned heads by joining the big screen reboot of the Power Rangers, a franchise not always known for attracting “serious actors.” Early in his career, Cranston had voiced some of the characters in the English translation of the original series, but many thought him to now be “above” such material. For Power Rangers fans, it can only be good news that the project has enough promise to lure talents like Cranston, Elizabeth Banks (who plays villain, Rita Repulsa), and Bill Hader (who plays Alpha 5).

Power Rangers is currently in post-production, with a planned release for this March. Surprisingly, plot details are still pretty slim on the project, which has only had one teaser trailer (and an international version) so far.

In an interview with IGN, Cranston discussed his early concerns about joining the project:

Fortunately, it was the quality of the script that changed Cranston’s mind.

“I thought, ‘Power Rangers? It’s kind of the [1960s] Batman television show - Pow! Zing! Whap!’ And I had a phone call with the director and he said, ‘Think of it this way… Like Batman came from TV and became a completely different animal in the movies, so too is it here. We’re going to take this and revamp it and it’s going to be grounded and real.’ And I thought ‘Okay, with that, let me read it.’”

This will certainly be good news for fans who want an iteration of Power Rangers that will not just take the universe seriously, but help grow the heroes’ audience. Cranston’s description of Zordon will provide some insight for fans wondering about his approach to the character.

“I read it and went ‘You’re right.’ The kids sound like real kids and not everyone is this great athlete and everything is working out. I thought, ‘This might be a nice bookend to what I was doing before,’ since I started out doing voices.”

Stay tuned to Screen Rant for updates on Power Rangers as they hit.

“He is a frustrated mentor of these kids. They’re not advancing as I’d hoped. Some of them are not taking this seriously, the responsibility that has been placed upon them or that they have been chosen for. And yet, you’re a mentor. It’s almost like being a coach. You want to break down the individuality of them so that they can grow as a team.”

Source: IGN