Exclusive: Karan Ashley Talks Power Rangers and ‘The Order’ at Tidewater Comicon
Karan Ashley discusses her Power Ranger beginnings and her new movie “The Order” at Tidewater Comicon.
The Power Rangers have been such prominent characters over the past 2 decades and Karan Ashley had the honor of being a member of that team. We were able to sit down and discuss the experience with Karan as she gave us details about her past, present, and future projects.
We started out the conversation discussing the beginnings of Karan’s career with the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” Auditioning for the role was a rather daunting task filling the shoes of previous, late yellow ranger Thuy Trang, but despite nerves and a lack of martial arts skills, Karan Ashley secured the role.
“They did ask me in my audition if I could do a kick, if I could do a punch, so they could just see if it looked like I knew what I was doing. But no, I instantly started working with the stunt team and I always was like, ‘I don’t want to look like the girl who doesn’t know how to do martial arts. So, luckily enough I was a good enough actress (laughs) to play a martial artist (laughs).”
Karan Ashley was not just the yellow ranger on television, she was also the yellow ranger for the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” movie as well. When it came to the costume for her character, they greatly differed when it came to her small screen role versus her big screen role. We were curious as to which costume she preferred.
“…it was misery, but they looked really cool…”
“Obviously it was something to put on that spandex outfit for the first time and I remember when I opened it up it said ‘Thuy’ which was the original actress. It was actually her costume but they just made it to fit me. So that was an honor. But I felt like the movie costumes…I mean…they were HORRIBLE to wear. Like 35 pounds, they had a corset, it was misery, but they looked really cool so you almost kind of suffered for the look. It was pretty awesome.”
Even knowing that she was asked the question quite often, we still had to know if there was any updated news about her being involved in the upcoming Lionsgate movie. Will there be a cameo or some other part for her to play in the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” reboot?
“(laughs) I get asked every city. You know what? As of right now, no. But you never know. I don’t know…it’s a total reboot, so they’re doing new cast, new things. All the rangers I know, no one has been officially…people have been talked to but nothing is official. So no, I don’t know if they’re going to be…I always say they’re not the most sympathetic bunch. They may just want to go all new, so I don’t know if that’s going to happen, so we’ll see. You never know.”
Regardless of whether she will be in the film or not, as a former Power Ranger, we wanted to know her thoughts on the film. Is she excited for the reboot?
“I’m a fan! I love that Becky G is going to be the yellow ranger. I can’t wait to see what they come up with. I think that Lionsgate is such an amazing company. If they do half of what they did with ‘Hunger Games’, it’s a hit. You know? It’s amazing, so I’m excited. I’m actually, me and a couple of my ranger friends, we’re actually going to sneak in and go see it when it comes out. So we’ll go check it out.”
We quickly responded to her gathering with other former Power Rangers to screen the film. If they go to see the film publicly, we were sure fans would be more than excited to view the reboot alongside the original cast members.
“I know. We’re going to have to go in when the lights go down.”
Karan Ashley will be joined by some of her former “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” cast members in an upcoming film titled “The Order.” With the image tied to the film, many are speculating that the film’s plot could have some ties to the Illuminati.
Karan Ashley joined by other former Power Rangers in “The Order.”
“(laughs) That’s what’s so hilarious! Everybody’s like, ‘Is it Illuminati?’ And we were like, ‘No’. (laughs) But the symbol…I guess it is…it feels that way. Yeah, ‘The Order’ was created by myself and David Fielding. We wrote the script and I partnered up real quick with Johnny Bosch. He and I had produced together before. And so yeah, we’re kind of like a secret society that kind of shadows the FBI and the CIA. So although they’re out to do good, they can’t always abide by the law. They just have to get it done so it’s really interesting because the plot twist is that some of the members turn against the Order and try to take it out. So it’s like we’re fighting each other. We can’t reveal who’s good and who’s bad but so far I’ve got 18 former Power Rangers who’ve signed on. It’s amazing. We debuted the trailer last week. We just kicked off our Indie Gogo and for all of you who’ve contributed, thank you so much. We’ve got a long way to go but we’re excited, the fans are excited, and I think we’re going to make it happen. Yeah, we’re definitely going to make it happen.”
We also acknowledged our excitement for “The Order” and the reunion of so many former Power Rangers in the film. We thanked Karan Ashley for the interview and for appearing at Tidewater Comicon.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
