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When millennials think back to their childhood TV favorites, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
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might be on that list. But now a former writer on the show is speaking out, admitting they
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seriously missed the mark when it came to casting choices. The head writer of the original series
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Tony Oliver, recently appeared on Investigation Discovery's new docuseries, Hollywood Demons. He called the decision to cast a Black actor as the Black Ranger and an Asian actress as the
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Yellow Ranger, quote, such a mistake. Oliver does clarify that Thuy Trang was not originally cast as
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the Yellow Ranger and it was supposed to be played by Audrey Dubois, who ended up only doing the
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pilot episode. She left the show because she wanted more money from the studio. Entertainment Weekly
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points out that Walter Emanuel Jones, the actor for the original Black Ranger, even joked about
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the choice in behind-the-scenes footage from the docuseries, saying, my name's Walter Jones, I play
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Zach, I'm black and I play the Black Ranger Go figure Oliver says they didn notice the racial implications at first until his assistant on set pointed it out That assistant comment made them realize they unintentionally played into racial
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stereotypes. The series, which premiered in the early 90s, became a cult phenomenon. The franchise
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has gone through several reboots since, including a 2017 film with a more diverse cast. Cast changes
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happened early on in the show's history with original rangers leaving after pay disputes
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Jones was originally replaced by a Korean American actor and Trang replaced by a Black actress
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In a 2013 oral history, co-creator Shuki Levy said the original casting choices were not
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intentional, adding they were new to the country and did not grow up talking about race in the same
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way. The Hollywood Demons docuseries digs into behind-the-scenes drama from several 90s shows
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and this Power Rangers moment is just one of many. It's streaming now on Max and Discovery+
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With Straight Arrow News, I'm Kennedy Felton. Download our app or visit san.com for more
