‘Power Rangers’ Casts Earl of ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ as Blue Ranger

The biggest discovery of indie tearjerker Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was RJ Cyler, the newcomer who impressed audiences as the Earl of the equation. Both of his co-stars recently signed on for major blockbusters, leaving us wondering when we’d see Cyler do the same. The answer is now, as the young star has signed on to play the role of the Blue Ranger in the Power Rangers movie reboot.

The Power Rangers Instagram account made the announcement of Cyler’s casting as the Blue Ranger:

Cyler joins Dacre Montgomery’s Red Ranger, Naomi Scott’s Pink Ranger and Ludi Lin’s Red Ranger in the upcoming film, which is being directed by Project Almanac’s Dean Israelite from a script by X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz. The film centers on a group of teenagers brought together by an alien element that gives them the power to transform into heroes with dinosaur-themed vehicles that combine into one giant monster-fighting weapon.

To be honest, the Power Rangers reboot seems like a step down for Cyler, who made a very impressive acting debut in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. His co-stars Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke are following up the indie with Kong: Skull Island and Ready Player One, respectively — two films touting some immense talent.

Power Rangers is a silly concept across the board, and although Israelite is a competent director and Stentz and Miller have turned in some solid screenwriting work, nothing can convince me that this movie is going to be better than, say, Fantastic Four. But Cyler is probably the best news to come out of this thing so far, so maybe there’s hope for it yet.

Power Rangers hits theaters on January 13, 2017.