The Bayside High gang is getting back together.
The newly revived “Saved By The Bell” will feature some familiar faces, including Elizabeth Berkley Lauren who returns to the hallowed halls of the high school alongside Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen. The actress says part of the fun was reuniting with her ’90s on-screen love interest, Lopez.
“It’s like breathing it’s so natural for us. We are like siblings,” she tells ET Canada of getting to banter with Lopez as former high school sweethearts Jessie and Slater once again. “I laugh so hard with him. We have the best, best time and we also have a similar work ethic so what’s great about it is when we come in and we come in to rehearse, and we run our lines. What’s so refreshing and so comforting is we don’t even need to explain to the other how we work, we just kind of picked up where we left off, to be honest.”
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Not only is Berkley Lauren returning to her role as Jessie, she’s also acting as a producer on the series. As such, she’ll make sure the revival includes everything fans loved about the original series run, which ended in 1992.
“The beautiful thing about doing the show now as producers is to really embed all the things that people loved about it,” she explains. “Relationships, connection, friendships, the joy, the hijinx, and then literally lots of easter eggs that people are going to love to see.”
Part of Berkley Lauren’s job is to make sure the Bayside High of 2020 reflects the real world. And just like the original series occasionally tackled topics like drug use and environmental concerns, expect the reboot to infuse social events affecting today’s youth.
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“What’s really great though our show reflects the diversity in our world,” says Berkley Lauren. “This is something that I’m really proud of and honoured to help bring a show like this into the world and reflect the youth culture of our real world.”
One thing Berkley Lauren and her co-stars won’t be missing is their 1990s fashion choices.
“I like certain things about ’90s fashion but I do not miss Jessie’s wardrobe,” she says. “I do not miss like headbands on my forehead, Buddy Bands… I don’t miss any of that, although they might make a reappearance here.”
While she may not love all of Jessie’s teen wardrobe, Berkley Lauren does love Canada.
“I just want you to know too, that my dad’s side of the family is Canadian and I love Canada, so I love being able to talk to you in a place that is one of my favourite places in the world,” she shares. “I grew up loving Smarties and MacIntosh Toffee. I know how to smack it on the concrete and break it into little pieces. I know those tricks!”
“Saved By The Bell” airs Thursdays on W Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The entire season will be available to stream exclusively on StackTV on Nov. 26, beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
