Power Rangers’ new team for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is a never-before-seen roster that brings Zordon’s era full circle. Usually, Power Rangers celebrates its anniversaries with special episodes placed within the ongoing Power Rangers series. This will be different for Power Rangers’ 30th anniversary, as the Mighty Morphin Rangers are returning for a standalone special.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, a Netflix Power Rangers reunion dropping on April 19, is set to be quite an emotional entry in the franchise. Though most of the Power Rangers actors returning for the Netflix special have remained close to the franchise in the last few years, some Rangers have been away from the screen for decades. This means Once & Always will feature Power Rangers crossovers that have never happened before.
Netflix’s Power Rangers Reunion Features A Never-Before-Seen MMPR Roster
By having at least one actor from each Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season, Netflix’s Once & Always reunion is bringing a never-before-seen Mighty Morphin Power Rangers roster. The original Mighty Morphin team – Jason, Billy, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly – only fought together during Mighty Morphin season 1 and part of Mighty Morphin season 2. Jason, Trini, and Zack left the Power Rangers for the Peace Conference, an event that was recently retconned in the Power Rangers comics. A second Power Transfer happened when Kimberly stopped being a Power Ranger, and by the end of the original Power Rangers TV show, only Billy had remained from the pilot's cast.
Several Mighty Morphin Power Rangers actors are returning for the Netflix reunion, yet only two of those were part of the team’s first iteration – Walter Emanuel Jones’ Zack and David Yost’s Billy. This leads to an interesting scenario in which, for example, Zack will get to interact with the Stone Canyon Rangers – Rocky, Adam, and Aisha – as well as with Kat for the first in Power Rangers TV canon. While Zack interacted with those Rangers in the comics, these moments never happened in the TV shows. Billy, on the other hand, is quite familiar with the rest of the Rangers, as he was part of all Mighty Morphin Ranger teams.
How Once & Always Is Bringing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Full Circle
Though Power Rangers’ Zordon Era technically refers to all Power Rangers seasons from Mighty Morphin to Power Rangers in Space, it is difficult not to think of Mighty Morphin as synonymous with Power Rangers. Curiously, after Mighty Morphin, all Power Rangers series have lasted two seasons maximum. This trend has only now been broken with Power Rangers Dino Fury returning as Cosmic Fury for a third season in 2023. Still, there was not too much of a link between the three Mighty Morphin seasons, especially because of the many cast changes. Only Billy Cranston and Tommy Oliver really bridged the three seasons.
Having Zack returning for the Power Rangers reunion and fighting side by side with Adam, who replaced him as the Black Ranger in Mighty Morphin season 2, is just one example of how the Netflix special is bringing the Power Rangers universe full circle. Finally, as Power Rangers celebrates its 30th anniversary by seeking refreshing formats, such as Cosmic Fury’s no monster of the week structure, having a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reunion becomes even more meaningful. 2023 could be a redefining year for the Power Rangers universe, with both Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always and Power Rangers Cosmic Fury closing a major chapter of the saga.