【Ireland】

The IrelandPower Rangersreboot is breaking down another barrier.

Following Monday's news that the new Yellow Ranger would be Hollywood's first mainstream LGBTQ superhero, actor RJ Cyler has revealed that his character, Billy the Blue Ranger, is on the autism spectrum.

In an interview with ScreenRant, Cyler discussed the process of bringing the Blue Ranger to life:

I just wanted to show a different, like, viewpoint of people that are seen as being on the spectrum, right? Or people diagnosed with autism, ’cause it’s like I feel like us being outsiders looking in and I take that, I cast my own stone when I say that, ’cause there’s a lot that I didn’t know before ...

I actually sat down and shut my mouth and actually just listened and you know, accepted every bit of information with no judgement ... I knew that it was my job to show, you know, that people that are on the spectrum are just regular people, literally, just how we talk, how me and Becky [G, who plays the Yellow Ranger] talk, they feel the same way, they have the same emotions, they wanna be loved, that want people to love, they want relationships they want, you know, connections, and it’s just like I was really excited to be able to play that ’cause I know it means so much to so many people.

Cyler's comments arrive just as other characters on the spectrum are coming to the forefront. On Monday, Sesame Streetannounced it was adding Julia, the first-ever autistic Muppet, to the regular cast. (Julia had previously been relegated to the show's digital segments.) And Overwatchmade headlines earlier this month when game director Jeff Kaplan confirmed Symmetra, one of the playable characters, was autistic.

Although there are a handful of prominent characters who've displayed qualities associated with autism, including Guardians of the Galaxy's Drax the Destroyer and The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, it remains rare to see characters who are explicitly confirmed to be on the spectrum, let alone heroic protagonists who are identified as such.

Here's hoping Billy the Blue Ranger -- along with Julia, Symmetra, and others -- are the start of a change in the right direction.