On Aug. 20, 1989, several of Miss Bliss’ former students enrolled at Bayside High — and a teen franchise was born.
Now, 31 years after Saved by the Bell first launched on T-NBC, a new semester is set to begin on the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock. The highly anticipated revival will pick up 27 years after Zack, Kelly, Slater, Jessie, Lisa and Screech graduated, and more than 20 years since the last extension of the popular comedy. (What, have you forgotten about The New Class?)
Since the SBTB sequel series was first announced last September, several legacy cast members have signed on to reprise their iconic roles. Other have not been approached. And while news continues to trickle in about the modern-day followup, so much remains unknown. For instance: Are Zack and Kelly still married? What ever happened to Jessie’s evil stepbrother Eric? And when was the last time anyone — and we mean anyone — spoke to Tori?
Rather than speculate about what we don’t know, TVLine has compiled the following guide that contains everything we do know about the revival, which we will continue to update as we learn more. In the meantime, scroll down to find out just how present our favorite alumni will be on an episode-to-episode basis, who among them are now parents to members of Bayside’s current student body, and why the show is poised to have a slightly different look and feel than you’re expecting. We’ve also rounded up previously released teaser trailers and quotes from the cast.
Once you’re caught up to speed, hit the comments and tell us if you’ll be binge-watching the new Saved by the Bell — and share your wish lists for the revival.
Zack Morris — who is now the governor of California — lands in hot water for closing too many low-income high schools. When he suggests sending the affected students to the highest-performing schools in the state, including Bayside High, the influx of new students “gives the overprivileged Bayside kids a much-needed and hilarious dose of reality.”
The revival hails from executive producer Tracey Wigfield, who created the NBC comedy Great News. Her previous credits include 30 Rock, The Mindy Project and the Four Weddings and a Funeral reboot.
Meanwhile, the writing staff includes Funny or Die‘s Dashiell Driscoll, the creative force behind Zack Morris Is Trash. The popular web-series revisits episodes of the original series to reveal that Zack has always been “a completely horrible human being.”
“I’m a huge fan of that series,” Mark-Paul Gosselaar told TVLine. “And some of that is in [the revival], which I absolutely love: Zack Morris being a little offensive and sort of not being on the right side of things.” (Gosselaar and Driscoll have since teamed up for the SBTB rewatch podcast Zack to the Future.)
Unlike the original series, the new SBTB will be a single-camera comedy, a la The Office. There will be no studio audience or canned laughter.
Gosselaar, who currently stars on ABC’s mixed-ish, will reprise his role as Zack Morris in a recurring capacity. He is expected to appear in three episodes during Season 1.
In March, MPG posted a photo from the makeup chair on the set of the SBTB revival, where work on Gov. Morris’ signature locks was underway. “One of these blondes is going be Zack Morris,” the Instagram caption read.
Lopez will reprise his role as A.C. Slater in a series-regular capacity. He is also a producer.
In the revival, Slater is a down-on-his-luck gym teacher at Bayside High.
Berkley is “so excited” to step back into the role of Jessie Spano. She, too, is a series regular and producer.
In the revival, Jessie is a guidance counselor at Bayside High.
Thiessen, who recently co-starred on the Netflix family comedy Alexa & Katie, will appear in “an episode or two” as Kelly Kapowski-Morris.
Still happily married to Zack, Kelly currently serves as California’s First Lady.
Voorhies will guest-star as Lisa Turtle, who is “thriving with a successful career in fashion.”
Also making a return is the gang’s iconic hangout spot, The Max, as well as its namesake owner (played by comedian/magician Alonzo).
Diamond, who played Samuel “Screech” Powers, has apparently been excluded. Presumably for all the reasons listed here.
“Out of all the cast members, I was in… the most [episodes], and that’s not the case anymore if I’m not in the new one,” Diamond said in a recent interview. “And how do you have Saved by the Bell without Screech, right? … We should all be a part of this.”
When asked about Diamond, Gosselaar told TVLine that he had “no idea” whether Screech would be referenced in the continuation.
“Hey! Hey! Hey! What is going on here?” Beats us! As of now, there is no indication that Haskins, who played Bayside principal Mr. Belding, is involved in the revival — but there’s reason to believe that the character is long retired.
Character actor John Michael Higgins will play Belding’s successor, the beleaguered Principal Toddman, who is constantly being pranked by his privileged students and yelled at by their entitled parents.
Higgins previously worked with Wigfield on the aforementioned Great News.
Mitchell Hoog (Roswell, New Mexico; pictured left) has been cast as Mac Morris, “the handsome, charming, privileged son” of MPG’s beloved slacker.
Belmont Cameli (Empire; right) is set to play Jamie Spano, Jessie’s “sensitive man-child son” who is the captain of the Bayside football team.
Haskiri Velazquez (The Birch) stars as Daisy, a “smart, ambitious” sophomore who attends Bayside after her high school gets shut down.
Alycia Pascual-Pena (Chase) plays Aisha, Daisy’s “ultra-competitive” BFF who tries out for Bayside’s football team.
Josie Totah (Champions) will portray Lexi, “a beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students.”
Dexter Darden (The Binge) is Devante, a fellow Bayside newbie who previously attended a different high school with Daisy and Aisha.
The first footage was released in April, and shows Slater and Jessie back in a Bayside state of mind. We’re then introduced to Bayside’s “sheltered and clueless” student population, including Mac, Jamie, Lexi, Devante, Aisha and Daisy — the latter of whom has the honor of breaking the fourth wall and calling the revival’s first timeout.
The second trailer, released in August, finds Jessie relive a teenage trauma as she snatches a bottle of caffeine pills from Mac’s hand.
“At first, they’re so exciting. And then it gets even more exciting,” she warns. “But after that, it gets so scary. And in the end, you ruin your girl group’s shot at a recording contract.”
The Saved by the Bell revival launches Wednesday, Nov. 25. All episodes of the original series are now streaming on Peacock.
You know Slater clearly states in the first teaser trailer that Kelly’s Mac’s mom, don’t you?
Actually it was Good Morning Miss Bliss for the Disney Channel back in 1987 and Zach Screech and Lisa along with Mr Belding were all on the show. They just revamped it and changed locations and added more cast when it was renamed and moved to NBC. In syndication they actually slapped the Saved by the Bell on it and Zach at the beginning calls it the Junior High Years
This sounds AWFUL.
Not crazy about this being a single-camera show. I would have preferred it done as a traditional sitcom infront of a studio audience.
WHY?
it’ll be different but I’m looking forward to seeing what’s new with these characters. Will there even be a mention of their College Years? My guess is that Zack and Kelly are separated and that’s why Mac goes to school in Bayside instead of one Sacramento (so she can live near family). Anyway it should be interesting!
Jamie Spano is definitely Slaters son and I hope Slaters sister JB Slater shows up Lak Voorhies and Dustin Diamond deserve to be a part of this hopefully Screech and Lisa married and had one or two kids Hayley Mills should show up for a guest stint as Ms Bliss from sister series Good Morning Ms Bliss with Max Battimo aka Michael Mikey Gonzales and Heather Hopper aka Nicole Nikki Coleman
Sorry, folks, but I understood that Dustin Diamond passwed away a couple of years ago from cancer. So why are they even showing he had a recent interview? When was this supposed interview?
So how can we even believe that anything else in the news about the reboot is true??
FOR corn’s sake, why is a program as insipid as SAVED BY THE BELL even getting a reboot in the first place?
Is Hollywood really THAT desperate for ideas nowadays?