Simon Bennett: The Making of Power Rangers Cosmic Fury
Discover incredible behind-the-scenes of Power Rangers Cosmic Fury with executive producer Simon Bennett, who dove deep into the making of the show–from the toyetic nature of production to the importance of character continuity.
The final season of Power Rangers (as we know it) is a true gem for many reasons. Cosmic Fury marked the almost complete departure from Super Sentai, its main source of inspiration for thirty years, evolving what was already established in Dino Fury–concluding the story of Zayto, Amelia, Ollie, Izzy and Fern, Javi, Aiyon, and the franchise as a whole. Little is known about the potential reboot of Power Rangers, but Cosmic Fury could be the last of its kind, with the new direction potentially focusing on an older target audience and severing all ties to the Japanese counterpart. While the 30th installment was received with mixed feelings by the Power Rangers fans, it is undeniable that Cosmic Fury–despite its production complexities–delivered an epic and satisfying finale. Executive producer Simon Bennett unveiled the making of Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, from the toyetic nature of production to the importance of character continuity.
The conception of Cosmic Fury began in early 2021 during the filming of the second season of Dino Fury. Market research based on Ninja Steel was done by Hasbro when the company acquired Power Rangers from Saban in 2018, with one of the key findings highlighting that the franchise’s audience interest was limited to a couple of years due to the complete refresh of cast and theme for each Sentai-inspired season. Unlike other franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars, Power Rangers suffered from the lack of continuity of character. In order to retain audiences for longer, Simon Bennett suggested to Hasbro, “The Dino Fury cast were fantastic and worked really well together and with production. Why don’t we keep them going into the next season? There was quite a bit of contract negotiation discussion that went on towards the end of the filming of Dino Fury. I think that cliffhanger at the end with Zayto re-materializing and taking the team on a new mission was a very strong prompt to Hasbro that they couldn’t leave things hanging like this. They had to commission another season so that the audience would find out what happened.”
“We got a reprieve, but we were pretty certain that there wouldn’t be any more [Power Rangers] beyond that. Which is why the final episode is called The End and why we actually wanted to wrap everything up.”
With that pitch and a spot to keep the franchise alive while a young adult reboot series was being developed by Jonathan Entwistle (The End Of The F***ing World, I Am Not Okay with This) and Jenny Klein, Simon Bennett and his team were commissioned to write 20 episodes for Cosmic Fury. However, Hasbro’s priorities were shifting, focusing on their widely recognized and lucrative brands (such as Transformers and My Little Pony) in terms of toy sales, with Power Rangers no longer being on their target. At the beginning of 2022 a decision was made: there would be a Netflix Original Cosmic Fury, but it will only be 10 episodes. Bennett said, “We got a reprieve, but we were pretty certain that there wouldn’t be any more [Power Rangers] beyond that. Which is why the final episode is called The End and why we actually wanted to wrap everything up.”
New Suits, Weapons, and Morphers
The decision to continue the Dino Fury story with its original cast and the desire for Hasbro to detach from Super Sentai brought one big question: should Cosmic Fury adapt Uchu Sentai Kyuranger footage? Bennett confessed it was not feasible to establish twelve Rangers (a number that did not match with the Dino Fury team) with only 10 episodes. In addition there was the desire for Hasbro to move towards original costumes and props to ease toy production, which is the business model of Power Rangers. The new suits, designed by the New Zealand costume department led by Sarah Voon created unique, elaborate designs that visually evolved those of Dino Fury. However, Simon Bennett explained that “the process of evolution of those costumes was very much one of simplification for toy manufacturing. It was important to Hasbro to keep the dinosaur theme going but with a space theme added on. For the helmets, there were subtle changes, but they were essentially repaints of the Dino Fury, Ryusoulger helmets. That’s because in New Zealand we didn’t have the capacity to manufacture helmets to the correct standard, and they’re really expensive.” For the new weapons it was the same process, with production designer Tracy Collins creating something unique for each Ranger that would not only match their spirit ranger, but also their personalities. One thing that Hasbro was very adamant on was making the branding stronger in these new designs, hence the heavy inclusion of the lightning bolt logo. Bennett added, “The only one that didn’t really get a lot of feedback on it was Ollie’s evil blue suit … that one was pretty much as it was originally designed. Squillia and Bajillia were also as originally designed, same with Morphin Master Zedd. And then, of course, the great irony was the Ranger toys were never actually produced, which is sad.”
Although the toy line never saw the light of day, one particular design was actually produced: the new morpher. Bennett shared, “The gimmick with the morpher toy was that it had to respond to various music cues within the show and work with both Dino Fury and Cosmic Fury. What that meant was that we had to design the soundtrack to the opening titles and the morphin sequence months before we actually had any picture elements because it had to be embedded in the technology of the toy.” This unusual, backwards process locked the timing for the new morphin sequence, which was choreographed by second unit director Akihiro Yuji Noguchi and his stunt team in Japan and eventually realized through visual effects. The interactivity of the toy paired with the synchronized morphin sequence is action role play for kids, which Simon Bennett stated is an important aspect of Power Rangers.
The rare chemistry between Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, and Jordon Fite was the main catalyst for continuing their story in Cosmic Fury. Whereas Dino Fury spent enough time to introduce the new Ranger team, deeply establishing their relationships and personalities over the course of two seasons, Cosmic Fury took it one step further, raising the stakes through sacrifice while bringing more inclusivity to the series.
Amelia, The New Red Ranger and Zayto’s Journey
One of the best parts of Cosmic Fury is Amelia Jones’ promotion to Red Ranger, the team’s new leader. Throughout Dino Fury, on more than one occasion, Amelia showed her ability to step up and guide the Rangers during difficult times, so it was no surprise that when Zayto went missing after the Battle of Zordnia, the Morphin Grid chose her to wear the iconic red. Simon Bennett praised Hunter Deno for her enthusiasm and commitment to the new role while also delving into the rationale behind moving Amelia from pink to red: “It was really about wanting a bit more representation within Power Rangers. A lot of women and girls enjoy the show as well as boys and men, so why should there not be more gender equality within the team? We wanted to say that girls can be leaders too.”
On the other hand, Zayto’s story was one of ascension and triumph: “He sacrificed himself at the end of Dino Fury, and that was because of that amazing Sentai footage which shows that happening. When he came back we wanted for him to be on borrowed time … he’s got one foot in the spiritual world and one foot in the earthly world, his power would eventually run out. There is actually quite a religious parallel with Zayto’s story in ascending. We thought, who better than him to join the Morphin Masters and become the most powerful Power Ranger in history? He deserved it because we put him through a lot of torment and anguish over the course of his journey,” Bennett shared.
Javi’s Sacrifice and Regained Strength
Javi Garcia’s act of courage releasing the Cosmic Fury Zords with the Morphin Master’s staff in the show’s season premiere is a very powerful moment for the Black Ranger portrayed by Chance Perez, which throughout the season went from losing an arm to gaining a new, cybernetic one that brought new strength to the character. Simon Bennett confessed that including a disabled Ranger was quite complex: “We wanted to tell the story of someone who was able to move forward into their post-disability life in a positive way. I don’t think we were able to tell that story with the depth that we wanted to … the scripts had to be run by disability consultants, and there was a very strong mandate that we weren’t allowed to show this in a negative light. We couldn’t show pain. We couldn’t show blood. We couldn’t show despair, particularly for a musician who’s lost their ability to play their instrument. We had to very quickly move from shock to the rebuilding phase, and a big part of what would naturally come in between, we leapfrogged over.” Bennett added that although he still feels like they didn’t do the story justice entirely, the representation factor still made this a hugely positive part of the show.
Izzy and Fern’s Relationship and The Orange Ranger
Since Dino Fury, the love story between Izzy and Fern has been a highlight of the show, delving into the complicated lifestyle of a superhero—always having to sacrifice personal life for the greater good. This changed when Izzy revealed that she was the Green Ranger to Fern, allowing them to finally be truly honest with each other. However, in Cosmic Fury things get more complicated when Fern accidentally ends up in space with the Rangers and eventually becomes the Orange Ranger. Simon Bennett explained that the bigger arc (which had to be shortened due to the episode count cut in half) for their relationship was much more complicated, with the overprotectiveness causing their break up, Fern becoming a Ranger while they’re estranged, and eventually finding a path of forgiveness—becoming a couple again. “It created a good story with Izzy, the tensions between them in that situation. It was really underserved, but I still am very happy that Fern became the Orange Ranger and that Solon was her dinosaur. I really liked the way that happened,” Bennett said.
Billy Cranston’s Return
A welcomed surprise was the inclusion of Billy Cranston, the one and only Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger in Cosmic Fury. His role wasn’t just a simple, fan service cameo, but a strong supporting role for the team—very much like in Power Rangers Zeo. “David Yost hadn’t been back for a very long time since he left the show. We’d seen in his interviews online that he had been treated poorly by all accounts when he was on the show previously, and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fantastic to bring him back and have him treated really well, so that the franchise could move on from that bad blood?’ We could honor and respect the contribution that he had made to Power Rangers over all those years. Approaching David to come back as Billy for Cosmic Fury happened before Once & Always was even an idea.” One fascinating aspect of the character’s return is his obsession about bringing Zordon back, which Bennett confessed was something taken into consideration but was quickly scrapped because it would undermine the significance of his sacrifice back in the early days of the show. He added, “To have Billy still searching for his mentor, believing his essence could still be out there somewhere in the Grid, we thought was true to character and a worthwhile thing to do. And in fact, we proved through Aiyon’s experience, the character he met who looked like Zayto, that Zordon’s essence was still out there somewhere.”
Lord Zedd and His Evil Ranger
Lord Zedd returned in full force in Cosmic Fury–his actions and character development truly mattered in the story, raising the stakes like never before. Simon Bennett said, “He’s a known quantity within the Power Rangers universe. He’s powerful. He’s evil. If it had just been Squillia and Bajillia as the baddies in Cosmic Fury, they wouldn’t have been nearly as dangerous or significant as having Lord Zedd around (though we had fun with Bajillia double-crossing him in the end game of the show). If it was truly going to be the last series, what better villain to have than Lord Zedd? I also really enjoyed the bored uncle aspect of Lord Zedd as he’s watching Squillia with monster dancers doing their TikToks. I thought it was very funny.”
What really deepened Zedd’s characterization was his father-mentor figure he played for his new protégé, Ollie Akana. Bennett explained that turning the Blue Ranger evil once again was an example of a logistical issue having a creative impact that ended up working really well. “Kai [Moya] was the only person who couldn’t commit to the dates because he had various other possibilities happening. So we decided to write Ollie in such a way that, if necessary, he could be masked the entire time and played by a double with Kai voicing him from the US. The only way we could have him separate from all the other Rangers was really to have him as a villain, as we had done in a single episode of Dino Fury–having the spell put on him again but stay evil.” Bennett added, “[Lord Zedd] always wanted his own Ranger team, and he finally got his own Ranger to play with for a while. I think it worked well for the story. It also created extra pressure on Amelia because her boyfriend has been turned evil, at the same time as she’s having to step up to be a team leader. And then, of course, you’ve got the whole, ‘has he been cured or not at the end’ … Intrigue is a really powerful tool for storytelling.” You can discover more about Kai Moya’s portrayal of Ollie Akana here.
Beyond Cosmic Fury
Simon Bennett revealed that he had future plans for Power Rangers, which sadly never came to fruition: “I came up with a pitch for a possible Season 31, which never went anywhere. It was a fully fledged kind of bible document, and within it were types of Rangers that I would like to see in the future. I would have liked to have seen a plus-size Power Ranger. I would have liked to have seen a Power Ranger in a wheelchair that could transform into some kind of very cool fighting tool when that Ranger morphed. I would have liked to have seen a non-binary Power Ranger. That was actually something that we were kind of setting up … It was going to be [J.J. Oliver], Tommy Oliver’s teenage child who was established in canon in [Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel Episode 10] Dimensions in Danger. We saw potentially Minh from Once & Always and the non-binary character putting together a team of misfits. It was an idea that never actually went anywhere.” He added that he would have liked to see the show continue to grow in terms of linked stories, with Ranger teams that exist through multiple seasons to help build and maintain audiences’ engagement. However, “the issue you’ve got with a franchise like Power Rangers that has got 30 years of history and track record under its belt is that you get brand people within a corporation that can get cold feet if something deviates too far from what they perceive as being the rules of the show. It’s hard to be original within a long running franchise within a corporate structure.”
After thirty years of storytelling, the Power Rangers franchise as we know it ended in a powerful way with Cosmic Fury. We will miss the Fury team, and hope that somehow, someway they will return to continue their amazing journeys. If that will never happen, then re-experiencing Dino and Cosmic Fury on Netflix is more than enough.
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