Liongate's "Power Rangers" reboot finally has its set cast, and it looks like the super-powered squad will be going by different names this time around.
Singer and songwriter Becky G. is the fifth person to be casted in the highly anticipated film, which is set to hit theaters Jan. 13, 2017, according to Variety. The 18-year-old singer, whose real name is Rebecca Marie Gomez, recently started acting, and even landed a recurring role on the Fox series "Empire" as Valentina.
"It's morphin time!" the official Power Rangers Twitter account tweeted. "@iambeckyg is suiting up as the #YellowRanger in the #PowerRangers movie!"
"I am a @PowerRangers," Gomez tweeted following the news. "My favorite color is yellow. It's like it was meant to be." She also reposted the photo to Instagram writing, "Excited to be a part of this. My first movie and I get to be a freakin POWER RANGER. Thank you to the amazing team for welcoming me and also thanks @lionsgatemovies."
She will be joining Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger, Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger and R.J. Cyler as the Blue Ranger.
Director Dean Israelite chose these five stars because they are all up-and-coming, and now that co-creator and business magnate Haim Saban has joined, he's even decided to attach his name to the project, according to Collider. Saban and his partner Shuki Levy have been major parts of the successful "Power Rangers" franchise and the film's new title will be "Saban's Power Rangers."
The characters have also been given new names and will no longer go by their color or original dinosaur titles. The Red Ranger/Tyrannosaurus will now be Callum Oliver, the Pink Ranger/Pterodactyl will now be Priya Patel, the Blue Ranger/Triceratops will now be Brian Olson, the Black Ranger/Mastodon will now be Oscar Fernandez and the Yellow Ranger/Sabre-tooth Tiger will now be Teyana Jones. These names match up with the "Zords," which are the animal-themed war machines from the original series, so at least that one bit looks like it will remain the same.
With a new title and new character names, there's a chance it could have a new plot and maybe not be a reboot at all, but only time will tell.
I am a @PowerRangers
