‘Power Rangers’ Writer Says ‘It Was a Mistake’ to Cast Black and Asian Actors as Black Ranger and Yellow Ranger: ‘None of Us’ Were ‘Thinking Stereotypes’

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Tony Oliver, the main writer of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”, has confessed in the recently launched Investigation Discovery series “Hollywood Demons” that it was an error to choose a Black actor for the Black Ranger and an Asian actor for the Yellow Ranger (as reported by Entertainment Weekly). The show debuted on Fox Kids in August 1993, featuring Walter Emanuel Jones as Zack Taylor (the initial Black Ranger) and Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (the inaugural Yellow Ranger).

In an interview for the documentary, Oliver mentioned that when making initial casting choices for the show, “we weren’t considering stereotypes.” This is why the series lasted for two seasons with the Black actor as the Black Ranger and the Asian actor as the Yellow Ranger. It wasn’t until his assistant brought it up during a meeting that Oliver recognized these decisions unintentionally reinforced stereotypes. He later admitted, “It was a terrible oversight.

In the process of selecting actors for our TV series, I mentioned that the Black ranger exuded an air of confidence, or “swagger,” among the group, while the Yellow ranger was the calm, thoughtful one who often served as the moral compass. We were searching for individuals with these characteristics. Interestingly, Thuy wasn’t our first choice for the Yellow Ranger role; that honor initially went to Audri Dubois, but she decided to depart the show due to a disagreement over pay. Later on, Trang was brought in and seamlessly integrated into the pilot episode, which had already been filmed.

In an Investigation Discovery documentary, footage captured by one of the show’s stunt coordinators on set reveals that the cast was cognizant of the stereotypical ethnic assignments for the Black and Yellow Rangers. Walter Jones, who plays Zack in the series, expresses this awareness during filming: “I’m Walter Jones, I play Zack, and since I’m Black, I portray the Black Ranger — it’s rather obvious.

In my experience, Shuki Levy, one of the creators of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” shared with Complex that the casting of Jason David Frank (Jones) and Walter Jones (Trang) wasn’t planned at all. At that point in time, Haim Saban and I were fresh immigrants to this country. We didn’t come from a background where skin color was a significant issue, as we grew up in Israel, where diversity in ethnicity is a common occurrence. It wasn’t something we often discussed, and it wasn’t a major concern for us.

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2025-04-08 16:46