Hasbro Entertainment and Disney+ announced Tuesday that the next installment of the Power Rangers franchise will be a revival of the 2005 series Power Rangers S.P.D., updated for contemporary audiences and retitled Power Rangers: Seattle Police Department. The series, which is set in Seattle and will follow five color-coded officers of the Seattle Police Department as they battle alien criminals in the Pacific Northwest, will film entirely on location in Chicago, Illinois, which will double for Seattle on screen. Production is expected to begin in June 2026 at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, with additional exterior work planned throughout the Loop, Pilsen, and the Near West Side — neighborhoods that the production’s location manager has described, in internal documents reviewed by the Dispatch, as “Seattle-adjacent in energy.”

The original Power Rangers S.P.D. — in which the acronym stood for “Space Patrol Delta” — was set in the year 2025 in a futuristic city called Newtech City, where an intergalactic police force defended Earth from the Troobian Empire. The revival drops the space setting entirely. “We felt the franchise was ready to come back down to earth,” said showrunner Dan Shotz during a press briefing held, for reasons that were not explained, at a Courtyard Marriott in Rosemont. “The original SPD asked: what if police, but in space? We’re asking: what if police, but in Seattle? And what if Seattle, but in Chicago?” He paused after saying this, as though anticipating a follow-up question. There was a follow-up question. He said he would address the Chicago situation later. He addressed it later.

The decision to film in Chicago rather than Seattle stems from what executive producer Jonathan Steinberg described in a prepared statement as “a combination of factors including Illinois’s industry-leading 35% production tax credit, established studio infrastructure, and a permitting situation in the city of Seattle that we are not going to get into.” When pressed by reporters, Steinberg said the Seattle permitting issue was “resolved, actually, technically” but that by the time it was resolved the production had already signed a lease at Cinespace and hired forty local crew members and “at that point you’re kind of committed.” A source close to the production, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the permitting issue involved a disagreement between the Seattle Film Office and the show’s props department over whether the Rangers’ morphers — handheld devices that facilitate the transformation sequence — qualified as replica firearms under the city’s location filming ordinance. The source said the dispute lasted eleven weeks and involved three separate appeals. Steinberg’s prepared statement did not mention morphers.

The production’s approach to making Chicago look like Seattle has already generated internal discussion. A concept art package circulated to department heads in February, also reviewed by the Dispatch, includes notes on “Pacific Northwest set dressing” that specify potted evergreen trees at exterior locations, a muted teal-and-gray color palette for signage, and “persistent light rain via sprinkler rigs, even on sunny days.” The CTA’s elevated train, which will feature prominently in several action sequences, will be referred to in dialogue as “the monorail” and dressed with signage reading “Seattle Metro Transit.” A note in the margin of the concept document, in handwriting that has not been attributed, reads: “Can we CGI out the Willis Tower or is that too expensive?” Below it, in different handwriting: “Too expensive.” The Willis Tower will reportedly be obscured by fog effects where possible and left in frame where not, on the theory that most viewers under 25 will not recognize it.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, whose office signed enhanced film tax incentives into law in December 2025, released a statement welcoming the production. “Illinois is proud to be the home of Power Rangers: Seattle Police Department,” the statement read, a sentence that several reporters noted they had to read twice. The statement continued: “Our state’s film industry is stronger than ever, and we look forward to supporting this production and the hundreds of jobs it will create across Chicagoland.” The Governor’s office declined to comment on whether the Governor had seen the original Power Rangers S.P.D. He has not been asked.

Casting details remain limited, though a breakdown sheet obtained by Variety last week confirmed the five core Ranger roles: a Red Ranger described as “confident, born leader, probably drinks cold brew”; a Blue Ranger described as “by-the-book, quietly intense, thinks the Red Ranger’s cold brew habit is unprofessional”; a Green Ranger described as “quirky, talks too much at briefings, brings up things that are technically relevant”; a Yellow Ranger described as “street-smart with a heart of gold, grew up on the South Side of Seattle” — a phrase that prompted several reporters to note that Seattle does not have a neighborhood commonly referred to as “the South Side” — and a Pink Ranger described as “fashion-forward, deceptively strong, has opinions about precinct décor.” A sixth Ranger, described only as “mysterious, arrives mid-season, has a complicated relationship with the chain of command,” is expected to be announced at a later date.

The Power Rangers fan community has responded with the mixture of enthusiasm and structural critique that characterizes most franchise announcements. The subreddit r/powerrangers, which has 127,000 members, produced a 4,200-comment thread within six hours of the announcement. The top comment, posted by user MorphinTimeForever, read: “So let me get this straight. SPD was set in 2025. It is now 2026. The future already happened and we didn’t get Space Patrol Delta. Instead we’re getting the Seattle Police Department. Filmed in Chicago. I need to sit down.” The second most-upvoted comment was a photograph of the State/Lake CTA station with a “WELCOME TO SEATTLE” banner digitally added and the caption “Newtech City looks different than I remember.” A smaller but vocal contingent expressed concern that the new series would not honor Commander Cruger, the original series’ fan-favorite dog alien police chief. The production has not confirmed whether Cruger will appear. A representative said only that the show would “honor the legacy of SPD while charting its own course,” which is the sentence all franchise revivals use when they have not yet decided.

Chicago residents near the announced filming locations have been largely indifferent. “Another cop show?” said Maria Gutierrez, who owns a laundromat on 18th Street in Pilsen. “We already have three of those.” She was referring to NBC’s Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, and Chicago Med, though she acknowledged Chicago Med is “more of a hospital thing.” When informed that the new production involved Power Rangers and that her block would be dressed to resemble a street in Seattle, she asked what that would look like. She was told there would be evergreen trees, coffee shops, and signs for a fictional light rail system. “So, trees and a Starbucks,” she said. “We already have a Starbucks.” When informed that the show also involved Power Rangers, she asked if that was “the one with the dinosaurs.” It was explained that the dinosaur season was a different season. She said she didn’t mind as long as they didn’t block the street during business hours. A production representative confirmed that street closures would be coordinated with the Chicago Film Office and that affected businesses would receive advance notice. Maria said she would believe it when she saw it.

The series is expected to premiere on Disney+ in late 2027. The production will not use footage from Super Sentai, the Japanese series that has historically provided the basis for Power Rangers fight sequences — a first for the franchise and a continuation of the approach announced for the concurrent London-based reboot. All morphing sequences, Megazord battles, and monster-of-the-week encounters will be produced domestically, on what Steinberg described as “a budget that reflects the scope of our ambition,” a phrase that a below-the-line crew member who requested anonymity translated as “we’re figuring it out.” Filming is expected to last approximately eight months. The working title on call sheets and city permits is SPD Chicago, which multiple crew members have noted is “confusingly close to Chicago P.D. if you’re reading it fast,” a concern that has been raised and, as of this writing, not addressed. A set decorator who spoke off the record said the production had recently ordered 340 potted Douglas firs, a bulk shipment of “WET ROADS” spray-down equipment, and a 12-foot Space Needle replica that will be visible through the precinct’s window in certain interior shots. “It’s going to look like Seattle,” the decorator said, with a pause that did more work than the sentence.