As we come to the end of another year, we’ve steadily been receiving tidbit after tidbit about the anticipated 30th anniversary special of the Power Rangers franchise. And now, we’ve got another one: the title!
“Once and Always”
Tracey Collins, production designer for Power Rangers and most recently Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, pulled double duty and worked as the production designer for the 30th anniversary special. It’s on her website’s resume where she lists the name for the upcoming Power Rangers special.
-Tracey Collins, NZ on Screen
A key part of my design process is to delve deep into the story/script to find its unique voice and authentic character, and then create a bold, original visual language to support the story and characters — hopefully providing a rich experience for the viewing audience.
Deriving from the phrase, “Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger,” fans will instantly recognize the quote. And for the 30th anniversary of the long running franchise, it certainly does fit. Set to premiere on Netflix in spring of 2023 (more precisely in April of 2023 per The Illuminerdi) the 30th anniversary special will not only reunite previous actors across Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers on screen, but also bring a couple of Ranger actors on screen together for the first time. It will also introduce a new character to the franchise, linking the past to the present.
Per the 30th anniversary announcement at Hasbro Pulse Con in September of 2022, fans were excited to find out (or for some to have it confirmed) that David Yost (Billy Cranston / Blue Mighty Morphin Power Ranger) would be returning to the franchise after his time on the show ended during production of Power Rangers Zeo. It came as an even bigger surprise to find out in that same video that Walter Emanuel Jones (Zack Taylor / Black Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger) was also returning to Power Rangers. Since then, we’ve found out more about who would be rounding out the cast:
- Steve Cardenas (Rocky DeSantos / Red Mighty Morphin #2 / Blue Zeo Ranger)
- Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam Park / Black Mighty Morphin #2 / Green Zeo / Green Turbo Ranger)
- Karan Ashley (Aisha Campbell / Yellow Mighty Morphin Ranger #2)
- Catherine Sutherland (Kat Hillard / Pink Mighty Morphin’ #2 / Pink Zeo / Pink Turbo Ranger)
- Charlie Kersh (Minh Kwan / Trini Kwan’s Daughter)
With original Power Rangers actors Austin St. John, Walter Jones, and Thuy Trang leaving early in the production of Mighty Morphin’s second season, leading to the introduction of Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Karan Ashley, this is the first time on screen the Ranger actors will appear together.
The special also introduces newcomer Charlie Kersh as “Minh Kwan,” the daughter of Trini Kwan (played by the late Thuy Trang – who passed away September 2001), and presumably the focus of the anniversary special and rumored to become the next Yellow Ranger. You can learn more about Kersh here and here.
To note in the image above, Catherine, David, and Walter still sport their wrist communicators, and Catherine is seen to have her wedding ring continuing the story line of her character Kat’s marriage to the character of Tommy (played by the late Jason David Frank – who passed away November 2022) – a character story line started in Power Rangers Zeo’s “A Season to Remember,” and continued in the BOOM! Studios comic “Soul of the Dragon,” and further more in Power Rangers Ninja Steel’s 25th anniversary special “Dimensions in Danger.”
While it is unknown at the moment which iteration of Alpha this is, fans were happy and excited to see the suit along with the Ranger actors.
Speculation immediately started when fans noted Johnny Yong Bosch and Karan Ashley’s characters appear in uniform never before seen in the Power Rangers with a badge emblazoned with the initials S.P.A. While fans initially thought it to be S.P.D., once it was confirmed by Bosch to be SPA, many fans started speculating that the letters stood for Space Patrol Alpha to connect the franchise with the 13th season; a season set in (the quickly approaching in real time) 2025.
Filming for the 30th anniversary special took place in New Zealand at Auckland Film Studios – the new home of Power Rangers Productions after moving out of Studio West at the conclusion of production of Power Rangers Dino Fury – in September of 2022, maybe even having started sometime in August per the initial casting sides for the character of “Yen”, who turned into “Minh.”
Power Rangers Cosmic Fury will also celebrate 30 years of the franchise as the 30th season to premiere in 2023. It will stream exclusively on Netflix and be added to the platform worldwide simultaneously so fans don’t have to worry about international spoilers when the 10-episode season drops. Power Rangers Cosmic Fury will very soon (today) wrap up filming in Auckland, New Zealand at Auckland Film Studios.
With the close window between when “Once and Always” finished filming and Power Rangers Cosmic Fury started, there may be a possibility that we could see cameos from the Mighty Morphin’ cast in the new season; Power Rangers Dino Fury has already captured fans’ attention with the Easter eggs, references, and expansion on past characters that have expanded the world of Power Rangers all together and hope to see more in the future.
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