Why isn’t Amy Jo Johnson returning for the Power Rangers reunion special?

Some OG members of the Power Rangers will return for the upcoming reunion special. Amy Jo Johnson isn’t part of the team, but why?

There’s a Power Rangers reunion special coming to Netflix. It’s a global event and will include some of the OG cast members. Yes, OG! The Blue and Black Ranger will return. That is David Yost and Walter E. Jones will be back as Billy and Zack, according to TVLine.

We’ll also get the second Red, Black, Yellow, and Pink Rangers. Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karan Ashley, and Catherine Sunderland are all going to return. There’s even going to be a tribute of sorts to the OG Yellow Ranger, played by Thuy Trang, who sadly died in a car accident when she was just 27 years old. The tribute will be in the form of Trini Kwan’s daughter turning up.

While we’re not sure if there will be a tribute to Jason David Frank, who recently died by suicide and played the OG Green Ranger and went on to play other Rangers throughout the franchise, we do know one OG actress is definitely not returning. Amy Jo Johnson is not going to return as OG Pink Ranger, Kimberly Hart.

Why isn’t the OG Pink Ranger in the Power Rangers reunion special?

Johnson spoke out about the reason why she’s not returning. It’s got nothing to do with bad blood with the cast members or even anything negative about the reunion special itself. This is all about paying her what she’s worth.

Johnson shared that she said no to the offer that was made for Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Once & Always. The budget wasn’t available to pay her what she wanted, so she said no. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that on her part. Johnson has been a busy woman up to 2019 and even had a cameo in the Power Rangers movie with Frank.

It’s certainly a shame, though. Johnson’s Kimberly Hart was everything for young girls. Both Johnson and Trang showed young girls that they could enjoy their own hobbies, do well in school, be kind individuals, and still enjoy a social life. We got to see these teenage characters stand up for what was right and fight the monsters that would come after them. Plus, the Kimberly/Tommy ship remains to be the one from my childhood that I wish was treated better.

It is disappointing for fans of the original series that the special couldn’t find the budget to bring Johnson back. As good as Kat was, she wasn’t Kimberly, and it wasn’t as easy to accept her after two seasons of my Pink Ranger. Hey, I wasn’t even a teenager at the time!

I wish Kimberly was coming back. When I think of the Pink Ranger, it’s her. It’s like Billy will always be the Blue Ranger and Tommy will always be the Green Ranger/White Ranger. Isn’t that the case for a lot of people?

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Once & Always will see a group of the earlier Rangers come back to save the world from the latest threat. It drops on Netflix globally in April.

Watch the Power Rangers special on Netflix on April 19, 2023.