Austin St. John, the original Red Power Ranger, is making his way back to the show through a reprisal of his old role. The appearance will mark a significant event in an upcoming cross-generational team-up series. This is not the first time Hasbro has made a surprise announcement of this kind at San Diego Comic-Con, and hopefully it will not be the last.
St. John, who played the character Jason Lee Scott in the original iteration of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, was the first leader of the group. He left after only two years in the role following contract disputes, along with characters Trini and Zack. After over 25 years, it will be exciting to see what role St. John takes on in the upcoming season of Power Rangers: Beast Morphers.
As for what he will be doing, we can speculate that the incoming threat needs the combined power of other dinosaur-themed ranger teams. As the trailer briefly showed, other rangers dressed from all three of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers DinoThunder, and Power Rangers Dino Squad appeared. Each has dinosaur themed Zords with which to fight the enemy; the red ranger himself commanded the powerful Tyrannosaurus Rex Zord from the beginning in 1993.
An important detail of St. John’s outfit in the trailer is that, for a brief moment, we see him wearing the same wrist communicator they used in the original show. Does this mean that Jason Scott has been off, fighting in some other place, only to come back when needed?
Fans have also wondered for years if we would get a proper, full reunion of the original cast. Jason Frank (Tommy), Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly), and Walter Jones (Zack) might be up for the idea, as they've already made cameo appearances in the 2017 movie reboot. However, Thuy Trang (Trini) passed away in 2001, and David Yost (Billy) would not likely be interested in returning as he was bullied on the set and did not leave on good terms.
With that in mind, St. John is likely the only one of the original groups to make an appearance in the coming season of the show. For now, keep an eye our for the release date of season 2 to find out exactly what lies ahead for the original Red Ranger.