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Adi Shankar Developing R-Rated Power Rangers Series

A gritty, R-rated take on the Power Rangers series is reportedly in the works.

By Allie Z.Published 6 years ago 3 min read
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As you may have heard, a Power Rangers reboot will debut this year. The new film is a reimagining of the original television series, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (MMPR). Most of the story elements from MMPR have been included in the reboot, while a new take on the Power Rangers story definitely distinguishes the reboot from the original series.

In other news, Polygon has reported that another reboot of MMPR is in the works. Adi Shankar is reportedly rebooting MMPR in a gritty R-rated take on the Power Rangers. Here's what Shankar had to say.

It’s a complete retelling of the first three seasons. And it’s going to be really f**king dark. Darker than any other Power Rangers series.”

'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' [Credit: Saban Brands]

Keep in mind this isn't the first time Shankar has attempted to develop a R-rated version of the Power Rangers. Back in 2015, Shankar released an unauthorized short film of a Power Rangers movie. The short appeared to flow like a pitch for a movie but nothing ever came of it.

Here's the clip of Adi Shankar's unauthorized Power Rangers movie.

How will Shankar's pitch for an R-rated Power Rangers series be received?

According to Shankar, he's working on a script for the first season with an expected launch date sometime within the next two years. No network has picked up the series yet so we shouldn't hold our breath

'Power/Rangers' [Credit: Adi Shankar Production]

To be fair, nothing became of Shankar's previously released short film so his next Power Rangers project might fall to a similar fate. However, the popularity surrounding the upcoming Power Rangers reboot might result in the pitch being picked up by a network that is if Power Rangers is as big of a hit as it's supposed to be.

It's unclear who Shankar expects to pitch an R-rated reboot of the Power Rangers to but considering the nature of an R-rated series on the Power Rangers being quite violent, Shankar only has one avenue he can take if he wishes for his Power Rangers series to be developed, he has to pitch the series to a streaming service, namely Netflix.

Could Netflix pick up the R-rated Power Rangers?

As one of the most popular and most used streaming services of today, Netflix would be ideal for an R-rated Power Rangers series. Netflix has been adding exclusive new series to their catalog of videos available for streaming quite consistently over the past two years and since then, several new Netflix series have developed quite a substantial fan-base which would make Netflix the perfect forum to air a risky project like an R-rated Power Rangers series.

There's also the matter of Netflix being unafraid to promote new series that are R-rated and dark in tone; Santa Clarita Diet and Series Of Unfortunate Events are perfect examples of Netflix's nitty-gritty, making the streaming service seem ideal for Shankar's Power Rangers series seeing as how it's expected to be R-rated in nature. We should also consider Netflix to be the only streaming service that would be willing to promote Shankar's R-rated version of Power Rangers since streaming services like Hulu and Amazon aren't likely to promote R-rated series, especially as one as dark as we presume Shankar's take on the Power Rangers would be.

Regardless, until Shankar has a convincing pitch to show to a network, his R-rated reboot of the Power Rangers is just a dream but there's a good chance Shankar will produce a worthwhile series that gains the attention of Netflix considering how well shot his previous short film was. Some will argue that Shankar's short film was mediocre at best but it presented the first ever look at what the Power Rangers could be if the story were to take place in a dark universe.

If Shankar's short film for the Power Rangers gave any indication of how he'd produce an entire series, it seems like Shankar knows how he'd move forward with a gritty version of the Power Rangers, evident by how dark and dreary his short film was. Whatever the case, we'll have to wait until Shankar's pitch is picked up by a network to confirm the R-rated take on the Power Rangers will ever be made.

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About the Creator

Allie Z.

I cover most entertainment related topics and am venturing into journalism.

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