30 years ago, stock footage from "Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger" was repurposed for "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" to give American audiences a brand-new story featuring teenagers with attitude fighting the forces of evil. The result launched a popular franchise, and "Power Rangers" is still going strong across numerous types of media. In a few months, the franchise will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a standalone special called "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always," and while several familiar faces will be back for this story, there are some "Power Rangers" fans online who are upset that the late Jason David Frank was excluded. However, that’s not the case at all.

For context, Jason David Frank died at the age of 49 on November 19, 2022, but "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always" was filmed prior to his passing. Frank starred in the "Power Rangers" franchise as Tommy Oliver, who started out as the Green Ranger in "Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers," and then became the White Ranger. Frank had previously returned for anniversary episodes like "Power Rangers Wild Force’s" “Forever Red,” "Power Rangers Super Megaforce’s" “Legendary Battle” and "Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel’s" “Dimensions in Danger,” but in May 2022 on a Facebook livestream (via Yahoo!), Frank said that he would not participate in the "Power Rangers" franchise’s 30th-anniversary event. In fact, he said that he’d “done enough for the 'Power Rangers' brand,” and at that point, he was focused on making his movie "Legend of the White Dragon."