What lies ahead for Power Rangers? The future, of course.

Depending on your point of view, the latest development around Power Rangers likely left you feeling at least one of three ways: Validated, dispirited or hopeful.

Tuesday’s report from TVLine’s Matt Webb Mitovich that Hasbro is moving on from the “reboot” of Power Rangers in development at Netflix, depending on your point of view, likely left you feeling at least one of three ways:

• Validated

• Dispirited

• Hopeful

Hasbro “is exploring a new creative direction for the series … and with a new partner,” per the report, indicating that both Jonathan Entwistle (attached since 2019) and Jenny Klein (2022) will no longer be part of Power Rangers’ future, along with Netflix. If you’re a tea-leaves-reading fan who’s believed for a while that this creative team’s vision would never come to fruition, Tuesday’s news was assuredly validating.

Given their respective TV backgrounds, presumably were rooted in moving the franchise from a kid-centric property to one skewing more toward young adults and older millennials who grew up with Power Rangers. However one feels about that direction, it was always going to be a tough hill to climb for the resulting product(s) even if Hasbro was happy with what Entwistle and Klein cooked up. It’s one thing to “age up” Power Rangers; it’s another thing to convince tens of millions of people that you’ve successfully done so and that it’s worth their while (see: the 2017 movie). Still, if you were excited about the potential of such a take and optimistic that it could resonate in a way that built on whatever foundation was left behind by the 2017 film, it’s fair to feel dispirited.

The report indicates that Hasbro seems determined to get something going. Maybe that’s just fluff, or a tease for something else that’ll never get off the ground. However, fandom influencer Jinsakuu leading up to Tuesday’s news shared that Hasbro is shopping Power Rangers’ media rights. If that’s true — and it’s the kind of development that would fit neatly alongside the one reported by TVLine — then there’s more reasons than not to be hopeful about the future of Power Rangers.

It’s important to focus on the phrasing. Shopping the media rights for Power Rangers is different than pushing a project into development, as had been the case while eOne (through whom Entwishtle and Klein were operating) was under Hasbro’s jurisdiction. If this comes to fruition, it could mean a number of things — including Hasbro getting out of the picture entirely when it comes to Power Rangers in the entertainment space. While I’m inclined to think it’d be more along the lines of its recently announced agreement with Playmates Toys, where-in Hasbro serves as the final approver but will largely be hands off, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an outright sale. Contrary to semi-popular belief in fandom circles, there’s plenty of value in a 30-plus year old franchise that’s had incredible staying power, often in spite of itself and its purveyors.

It just all comes down to the asking price, and it seems unlikely that any buyer — particularly in an entertainment landscape that’s on thin ice — would come close to shelling out the $522 million Hasbro paid for the rights to the entire property in 2018. But could Power Rangers’ exclusive entertainment ownership rights — and a library of more than 900 half-hour episodes of recognizable kids content that generates legitimate viewership across a number of premium and ad-supported platforms — fetch $75 million in 2024? I really don’t think that’s an absurd number; it’s probably even too low. (Power Rangers is unquestionably worth more today than it was in 2010, when Saban Capital Group secured the entirety of its rights for a mere $43 million.)

Regardless of the price or terms of any licensed or outright sale, I suspect Power Rangers will have no shortage of interested suitors and new platforms on which it could exist in the future. Paramount seems like a natural fit, especially as a development partner rather than an outright buyer, given its decades-long history with other Hasbro properties. Though it hasn’t shown itself capable of getting any Hasbro franchise off the ground at the cineplex outside of Transformers, the company had recent success with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, an animated movie based on one of its own IP. Paramount itself is in a bit of a financial pickle, however, so a marriage of it and Power Rangers likely wouldn’t yield much fruit for a while.

Of the traditional players in media, NBC Universal is the only one that hasn’t taken a stab at Power Rangers. And while I’m not sure it ever would, directly, it wouldn’t shock me if the property ended up at a studio that funnels its existing and future offerings toward the company’s streaming service, Peacock. Of the major streamers, it is by far the least equipped with a sizable children’s library. As it looks to further expand its sports offerings, there’s an incentive to bring in more content — especially existing stuff — that can keep subscribers (and their children) in the ecosystem. A smaller studio with ties I’d keep in the back of my mind: 87 North.

Personally, if the full entertainment and development rights were up for grabs , I seriously wouldn’t rule out Disney as a buyer. I’m not necessarily sure that’d be a positive development in terms of new TV and films — my personal feelings about Disney, in general, make me think it’d just buy the IP for the content dump on Disney+ — but ya never know. The company’s in a much different place than it was when it stumbled into Power Rangers in 2001, as is the media landscape. Never say never. For a lot of the same reasons, Amazon can’t be ruled out as a player.

Lionsgate’s had its hands in the Power Rangers pie before and, I reckon, more or less enjoyed the experience enough that I don’t think it’s crazy to see them possibly getting involved. It also recently purchased eOne, which too has sizable experience with the property.

I’ve named a lot of bigger players above. I legitimately believe that, in some form or fashion, Power Rangers could end up with any of them or none of them. But I’m confident it’s not going to have trouble finding a production company willing to tackle the property as long as the terms are right for it and Hasbro. The show’s survived for three decades, and while it may never return in the form it existed for the majority of that time, it surely can exist in a way that continues to excite kids and longtime fans while turning a profit for all the stakeholders involved. It starts with a vision, and Hasbro’s for a while has been blurry, from a big-picture standpoint.

Sometimes you just need a fresh set of eyes — there may not be a popular brand that knows that reality more than Power Rangers. Time is a flat circle.