In a fairly surprising bit of casting, THR has revealed that Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games movies) will play a villain in director Dean Israelite’s new big-screen take on the ’90s kids’ TV series, Power Rangers.
According to the trade, she’ll be playing one of the classic series baddies known as Rita Repulsa, who is described as “an alien who has designs on the planet.” This will be Banks’ first villainous role (unless you count her initially ambiguous turn as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games), as the actress is generally known for her more comedic characters – although, it does remain to be seen how seriously this movie winds up taking itself.
Banks will join a cast of newcomers that includes RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludy Lin, Naomi Scott and Dacre Montgomery, who will star as the team of extra terrestrial bashing teens themselves.
Power Rangers was written by X-Men: First Class scribes Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, with Saban Films’ Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur on board as producers. The movie is set to hit theaters on March 24th, 2017.