In an Instagram clip from a recent chat with Fanward, Austin St. John and Walter Emanuel Jones revealed the events surrounding their exit from ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ in 1994.
The two mentioned how their co-stars refused to back them in reworking contract terms despite initially agreeing to support each other. Jones explained:
“Different people, for different reasons, changed their mind. Obviously, that would be Amy Jo [Johsnon} and David Yost and Jason [David] Frank, and all of them had their own reasons for deciding, ‘You know, we don’t want to renegotiate the contract after all. We’re just going to grin and bear it.’ But we, we wanted to stand up for ourselves because we felt like we were being bullied, and we felt like we deserved more, and that we had earned the right to be treated like professional actors.”
When Jones and St. John left the cast in the Season 2 episode ‘The Power Transfer,’ their characters, along with the late Thuy Trang’s Yellow Ranger, went to attend a Peace Conference. Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Karan Ashley joined the show as their replacements, playing Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, and Aisha Campbell.
The Cast Still Reunited For Their Anniversary
In 2023, Netflix celebrated the 30th anniversary of the series with ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always,’ which featured a reunion of some of the original and new cast members, including Jones, St. John, Cardenas, and Ashley.
David Yost, who appeared in the anniversary special with Catherine Sutherland, expressed his wish for more projects as a Ranger:
“Hopefully, because of the hype, it goes well, and we’ll continue and maybe do more. As the title says, once and always. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. That should be a clue that you never stop being a Power Ranger.”
Meanwhile, Netflix decided to expand the ‘Power Rangers’ franchise with new projects led by Jonathan Entwistle and Jenny Klein. Planning at least one new feature film and a series, the two creators said they could bring back some familiar faces in their upcoming project.
