How to Get Cast on ‘Power Rangers’

The show has certainly evolved since the 1993 series “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” in which Alpha first summoned Jason, Zack, Trini, Kimberly, and Billy to aid the wizard Zordon, but its overarching premise remains the same. It’s based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise “Super Sentai,” which the American series takes most of its action footage from. 

As for “Power Rangers Dino Fury,” it’s based on the 2019 “Super Sentai” series “Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger.” Following two seasons of “Power Rangers Beast Morphers,” “Dino Fury” focuses on the adventures of a new team of Rangers who draw energy from the Morphin Grid and the prehistoric power of dinosaurs in order to battle evil. Forced to fight the Sporix, ancient beasts that once ravaged the planet Rafkon, the Red Ranger, Zayto (Russell Curry), must call upon a new team to avoid a similar fate for Earth. “Cosmic Fury” will be a direct continuation of “Dino Fury,” though this season will feature the Rangers taking their fight to space.

Haim Saban and Toei Company, Ltd. developed the first iteration of the show, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” in the early 1990s. It debuted on Aug. 28, 1993, on Fox Kids. The 29th season, “Dino Fury,” premiered on Netflix, the series’ current home, in March 2022.

For the first time since the original “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” aired in the mid-’90s, the entire “Dino Fury” ranger team will return for a third season with “Power Rangers Cosmic Fury.” Here are the central cast members who will be blasting off into space on the series’ 30th season:

• Russell Curry as Zayto, the Red Dino Fury Ranger
• Kainalu Moya as Ollie Akana, the Blue Dino Fury Ranger
• Hunter Deno as Amelia Jones, the Pink Dino Fury Ranger
• Chance Perez as Javi Garcia, the Black Dino Fury Ranger
• Tessa Rao as Izzy Garcia, the Green Dino Fury Ranger
• Jordon T. Fite as Aiyon, the Gold Dino Fury Ranger

The series has traditionally sought out a multicultural talent pool of young, physically fit actors to play its lead heroes. Speaking on assembling the “Dino Fury” cast, showrunner Simon Bennett told Den of Geek, “In terms of the cast, obviously it’s a diverse group of people reflecting the diversity that we find in the world. There’s a huge range of different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and other forms of diversity involved in the crew and making the show in New Zealand. New Zealand is a very liberal country, and issues like gender fluidity, sexuality, ethnicity—they really don’t affect the making of the show. I would say the film industry here is incredibly diverse and open.”

Because the current cast came together at the height of the pandemic, auditions were virtual. “As actors during this pandemic, our process wasn’t that much different from what the casting process is for anything else during the pandemic,” Russell Curry, who plays Zayto, told CNET. “It’s almost all virtual. The difference between doing it on tape from your home versus going to a casting office is actually good in some ways and a lot harder in others. You don’t get to form those personal relationships with people as much, but you can take as many tries as you want.”

Chance Perez (Javi Garcia) noted that he didn’t look his best in his audition tapes, as he’d put his appearance on the back burner like so many during quarantine; but he ultimately made the cut. “I got the first audition at the beginning of June, sent it in, and my hair was almost down to my shoulders; I looked like a rat,” he told CNET. “It was really long and still had blond highlights, so imagine that. I got a callback, sent in another one the next week, and the week after that, there was a meeting in Marina del Rey where we met Chip, who was a producer for ‘Power Rangers.’ And the week after that, we did a Zoom meeting where we auditioned in front of Simon Bennett, who is the executive producer on the show, and that was probably the most intimidating part of the process; but then [I] got the role. So that was mine. It all happened in over a month.”

ComicBookMovie.com reported that production is already underway for “Cosmic Fury” in New Zealand; the season will likely premiere on Netflix in 2023.

No casting notices are currently posted. However, be sure to keep an eye on our main casting call page and this themed roundup for future opportunities, as we’ve featured postings for “Power Rangers” in the past.

Past casting notices have included: 

• “Power Rangers Beast Morphers”: High School Students (supporting)
• “Power Rangers Dino Charge”: Power Ranger Lead
• “Power Rangers Dino Charge”: Kayla (supporting)
• “Power Rangers Dino Charge”: Jeremy (supporting)

Auditions for new Rangers are typically held every two years, according to Brennan Mejia, who played the Red Dino Charge Ranger on “Beast Morphers.”

lev radin/Shutterstock

The series’ cast and crew have changed dramatically over the years. Iris Hampton, who was the CD for “Beast Morphers,” has led the charge on multiple iterations; she also found talent for “Megaforce,” “Dino Charge,” and “Ninja Steel,” among several other seasons dating all the way back to 1998.

Jasmeet Baduwalia, who played Ravi, the Blue Ranger on “Beast Morphers,” remembered his rigorous audition experience in 2018 well: “I think the process for me started on March 27, and the whole process was just like… I think it was about five auditions that we had to go through. So it’s a very long process, and the first one is just a pre-read that you do with the casting official. Then you’ve got a casting director audition. Then you’ve got a producer audition. Then you have another producer audition, and then you get the screen test or a chemistry test. I think for me, the goal of it all is to make sure they get the right person. They want to make sure you have the physical abilities; they want to make sure you can perform well, just from acting to performing physical kicks, martial arts, or karate, or whatever you can do.”

He added that it was a mystery what role he was even reading for. “So you just go into it with the generic vibe,” he explained. “It just says: ‘Reading for Ranger.’ They don’t tell you what Ranger you’re going in for. They don’t tell you what color you’re gonna go in for…. It was mostly just what everyone thought fit—what the network, what the producers thought looked good at the end after the screen test.”

• Get in shape. Reflecting on his life prior to his audition, Baduwalia said, “I think mostly, I just wish before the show, I would have done more martial arts. We do a lot of fights in the show…. You should be able to do kicks or [flips] or running. You’ve got to be very physical. This role is very physical, but it’s also very fun.”
• Be yourself. “The No. 1 piece of advice that Haim Saban and Chip Lynn told us when we got here was to be ourselves,” Baduwalia said. “If we messed up in the audition room, it was OK; it was not the end of the world. And also just being prepared, just being prepared for the journey…. Have your acting chops ready, have your physical abilities ready, and at the end of the day, anyone can be a Ranger. I’m a full-blood Punjabi Ranger, the first ever in the history of ‘Power Rangers’…. And just have fun, because they want to see you having fun. They’re going to be spending so long with you in New Zealand that they just want someone to work with. They just want to be around someone that’s fun, that they can get along with.”
• Do your research. “A lot of people audition for shows and they don’t know anything about [them],” Mejia said in a video about self-tape auditions. “I recommend you get a feel for what it is you’re going for. If you’re not familiar, go watch ‘Power Rangers’! See how the Rangers act; see what type of dialogue you’re using; see how they react [to] one another; listen to the musical cues.”
• Don’t be discouraged. “In regards to not getting the job, it doesn’t mean you were bad,” Mejia added. “Sometimes not getting the job literally comes down to their preference. Be courteous; be kind; be a human being. Remember, [the casting directors] are not there to be evil, to make you feel small and belittle you. They want you to do a good job. In the audition process, it’s not just one person who decides [if] you don’t get the job. It’s not just the casting director; there are also the directors, the producers, the writers, the executives, the studio, Hasbro themselves. They want you to be the person to embody this character that they can make a brand around.”
• You never know what may come of an audition. Liana Ramirez, who played Roxy, a cyber-villain on “Beast Morphers,” performed extensive physical and martial arts routines for her auditions and callbacks; but she ended up not getting the role she was trying out for. “I had worked so hard for four months for something I wanted so bad…. To be told no was so terrible. I cried a lot,” she said. “But in the same conversation of being told no, they actually said, ‘Hey, wait, we’re not really saying no to you completely. We want you to come in and audition for the villain of the show.’ And when I heard that, I was like, ‘Oh, this is so confusing. You’re saying no, but you’re saying maybe at the same time? Like, what is happening?’
  
  “But in the end, I felt this was another opportunity; this is really good that you’re bringing me back in still,” she continued. “So I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s go for it.’ So I went in and I got the sides for this girl named Roxy, and I went in for a testing session with the executive producer, Chip…. I am so thankful for the role that I got. If you are an actor or an actress and casting is giving you a second opportunity to come in for a role that you may have not wanted in the first place, don’t pass up the opportunity, because that role can change your life.”