Interview: Judd Lynn on Returning as Power Rangers Dino Charge Showrunner

Judd Lynn discussed his return to Power Rangers as executive producer and showrunner of Dino Charge in an interview. He explained that Saban wanted a fresh vision for the franchise; Lynn had already been brought in to develop a separate, delayed project, so he was asked to pitch a new season instead, and the pitch he presented became the basis for putting him in charge as showrunner.

Asked about Kyoryuger, the Japanese source footage for the new season, and Go-Busters, the season Saban Brands passed over in choosing it, Lynn said he was very familiar with Go-Buster and thought it was fantastic, but that Kyoryuger’s dinosaur theme gave it an edge since Rangers hadn’t done a dinosaur season in some time. He wasn’t certain whether Saban would revisit Go-Busters later. Among Kyoryuger’s elements, he singled out the Plesio Zord, the purple dinosaur-based Zord parked in an undersea hangar that can also fly into space, as a favorite for how eclectic its design is.

On tying Dino Charge to earlier seasons, Lynn described an overarching “Power” that connects all Rangers across seasons even though each season remains distinctively self-contained, leaving open the possibility that connections between seasons’ Zords could be revealed later without being planned from the start.

Describing his process for building a new season, Lynn said it starts with identifying the required elements: the overall theme, the cast and their number, the time period, the Zords, and any theme running through the villains. Ideas get generated and tested against whether they have enough “legs” to sustain a season-long arc rather than just a single episode, with some kept and others discarded; he summarized the process by noting a story is never finished, only abandoned in favor of moving forward.

On writing characters, Lynn said villains and quirky characters are the easiest and most enjoyable to write, while “vanilla” characters are the hardest to make compelling, since audiences need an emotional stake in a character before they care what happens to them. Asked what he hoped to bring back to the show, he said that in the past his opinions on the series often competed with other production voices at Saban, the network, and the production company; this time, with his voice given more weight and oversight extended to casting, costumes, and set design, he expected the season to reflect fewer compromises.