Last month, we reported that production will begin on Lionsgate's Power Rangers reboot in January 2016, giving the movie a full year of principal photography and post-production before arriving in theaters January 17, 2017. The studio hasn't released any official plot details yet, but there have been a number of rumors swirling, one of which claimed that the main villain of this reboot will be Rita Repulsa, a character from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV series. Today we have a new report from Collider, which claims that Rita Replusa won't be the main villain after all, and that the project itself is not a reboot.

Back in June, a rumor surfaced that Power Rangers will open 65 million years ago, with that era's Rangers taking on the villainous Rita Repulsa, before the Red Ranger, Zordon, sends her through a black hole. The story then picks up in present day, as we meet five teenagers who discover the power coins and eventually become the new Power Rangers. In fact, one of the new Rangers has already been cast, with Naomi Scott coming aboard earlier this week to play Kimberly, the Pink Ranger. This new report, however, claims that this Power Rangers story will actually be set after the events of the current TV series Power Rangers Dino Charge, and that the main villain will be Scorpina, one of Rita Repulsa's minions.

In the original series, both Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd were pacified by Zordon's energy wave, known as the Z-Wave, but Scorpia wasn't neutralized, promising that she would one day return. This report claims that the opening scene will feature Scorpina and her army doing battle with the Power Rangers and their robot Megazords. Since this battle will take place several years before the new story picks up, it is believed that these rangers will be the current Power Rangers Dino Charge team, who are tasked with protecting the Morphin Grid, an energy field that provides every generation of Rangers with their powers, and also allows them to access past, present and future Rangers' memories to come up with battle strategies. The Morphin Grid cannot sustain more than two Rangers for very long, which will likely figure into the story somehow.

The site also speculates that the Power Rangers Dino Charge team will be able to take a glimpse at the team that will assemble for the Power Rangers movie, through the Morphin Grid. It isn't known if the Morphin Grid will remain intact after Scorpina's battle, so it's possible that part of the team's new mission could be to restore the Grid. Regardless, Lionsgate has not confirmed whether or not Power Rangers will be set within the original show and Power Rangers Dino Charge's continuity or not.

Production is expected to run between January and April 2016 in Vancouver, under the direction of Dean Israelite (Project Almanac). Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (Geostorm) wrote the screenplay, with Haim Saban, Allison Shearmur and Brian Casentini producing. Are you excited that Power Rangers may not be a reboot and could follow the TV series continuity? Let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more details.