The Power Rangers reboot is looking like it has some of the most diverse cast yet, with Billy Cranston/Blue Ranger to be a character who is on the austism spectrum.
RJ Cyler, the actor who will be playing the Blue Ranger, just wants to show a different viewpoint of people who are on the Autism spectrum.
“I just wanted to show a different…viewpoint of people that are seen as being on the spectrum… Or people diagnosed with Autism, ’cause it’s like I feel like us being outsiders looking in and I take that, I cast my own stone when I say that, ’cause there’s a lot that I didn’t know before,”
“I knew that it was my job to show, you know, that people that are on the spectrum are just regular people, literally, just how we talk, how me and Becky [Becky G, Yellow Ranger] talk, they feel the same way, they have the same emotions, they wanna be loved, that want people to love, they want relationships they want, you know, connections, and it’s just like I was really excited to be able to play that ’cause I know it means so much to so many people, ’cause all of us are affected by it… and it’s something I feel like we needed to have in this movie to be honest.”
There aren’t any additional details on what role his character’s autism will play in the movie, but it only shows how rooted the movie is in real world issues. Aside from this, director Dean Israelite is also portraying Trini (The Yellow Ranger) as being queer.
The main characters are all misfits trying to find where they belong, certainly not the heroes that the Rangers were in the first movie.
Power Rangers is set to debut tomorrow nationwide and no, they’re not cutting it or canceling it.
