Hasbro has officially announced that original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers stars David Yost (Billy Cranston/Blue Ranger) and Walter Jones (Zack Taylor/Black Ranger) will reprise their iconic roles as Billy Cranston and Zack Taylor, respectively, for next year's 30th Anniversary Reunion Special.
They remain tight-lipped about any plot details, but it's certainly a welcome sight to see these two back on set in New Zealand and likely bodes well for things to come, although there is some reason to question whether they will be joined by any of their former MMPR co-stars.
Austin St. John (Jason Lee Scott/Red Ranger) is currently unable to leave the United States, due to his ongoing legal troubles. He was arrested in May for PPP-related wire fraud and, while he's since been released on bail, is still awaiting trial. Meanwhile, Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly Hart/Pink Ranger) has denied having any involvement with the Special, and Jason David Frank (Tommy Oliver/Green Ranger) has reportedly declared his retirement from playing the team's legendary sixth ranger.
We'll remain cautiously optimistic about Hasbro making the show's 30th Anniversary as special as possible, ideally bringing back as many original cast members as they can, but we also want to temper expectations in case they had to scale back on some of their ambitious plans due to recent developments.
While we don't know what to expect, The Illuminerdi reported earlier this year that the 30th Anniversary Reunion Special would pay tribute to the late Thuy Trang (Trini Kwan/Yellow Ranger), who left the show in 1995 and then, tragically passed away in a car accident in 2001. Their report states that the new Reunion Special will center on Trini's daughter Yen, as she presumably reunites her mother's former team and carries on their legacy. However, with the recent casting developments and availability issues, it's unclear whether the story has changed.
The currently filming 30th season is titled Power Rangers Cosmic Fury and will return the Dino Fury cast for their third year. It's been heavily rumored that the new season will bring the show's 30-year journey to a close, allowing the highly anticipated Netflix reboot, which will introduce a brand new team for both television and film, to start with a blank slate.
Check out the video of Yost and Jones announcing their returns below: