Power Rangers: Once & Always Stars Detail Paying Tribute to Thuy Trang (Exclusive)
Power Rangers Once & Always is now live on Netflix, kicking off the 30th Anniversary celebration of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in style. The special not only brought back several members of the original Mighty Morphin cast, but it also brought reality into the show's storyline paying tribute to the late Thuy Trang and continuing the legacy of Trini within the show's continuity. ComicBook.com's Nick Valdez recently spoke to Walter Jones and David Yost all about the special, including how they felt being able to pay tribute to their late friend in the special.
"I personally, I was really happy that we were able to finally say goodbye to her, meaning that we could come together as a group within Power Rangers and fandom and give kudos to who she was and what she provided within Rangers because...I think she was the heart of our team," Jones said. "Everybody has something they did within our team that we were specialists. I think that's what made her a specialist. As Power Rangers, we were teenagers with attitude, but because we were confident in what we did, everybody had something they did really well."
"When we came together as a team, that made us special. I think Trini's character really was the heart," Jones said. "I think it was really important for us to be able to say goodbye to her in a way where we honor her and give her flowers finally, because it's been a number of years, and now we're all finally mature enough to deal with it. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah. I'm really glad that Hasbro stepped up to the plate and really wanted to honor Thuy as an actress and the character that she played, Trini, because Trini obviously meant so much to so many people, especially to young girls," Yost said. "She was a female superhero, and obviously she meant a lot to Asian Women everywhere, giving them hope. And her character was so sweet, yet so strong, and she was obviously always Billy's translator. Nobody could understand what Billy was saying. So, Trini was always the character that sort of helped Billy express himself."
"And so I think it's such a great way that we got to honor her and I'm glad that we got to do it. And Walter and I, and Austin [St. John] and Amy Jo [Johnson] and Jason David Frank, we used to always...When we'd see each other at Comic-Con, we were always wishing that Thuy could be there with us to experience the amazing love that the Power Rangers fans have for us and what our show did in so many lives, and how it's just transpired and inspired over all these years," Yost said. "And it was just really great to get to see that. And we hear so many stories about her and how excited fans are to get to see how we're going to honor her in this special. I'll be really curious to see how it goes."
Season 2 of Dino Fury and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is available on Netflix now, and Cosmic Fury is slated to hit in 2023.
What did you think of Once & Always and how it paid tribute to Thuy? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things Power Rangers with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB.