Taking a time out! The Saved by the Bell revival dropped on Peacock on Wednesday, November 25, and it was hard not to get nostalgic while watching. The new series follows the mixing of two new groups of students: the high schoolers who are forced to relocate to Bayside High after their low-income school closes under California Governor Zack Morris’ orders; and the wealthy, privileged students of Bayside.
The original cast is back. Mark-Paul Gosselaar returns as Zack Morris while Tiffani Thiessen reprises her role as Kelly Kapowski. Elizabeth Berkley plays now-guidance counselor Jessie Spano and Mario Lopez‘s A.C. Slater is the gym coach. Lark Voorhies also makes a cameo as Lisa Turtle.
The new cast includes Haskiri Velazquez as smart and determined student Daisy Jimenez; Mitchell Hoog as Zack and Kelly’s son, Mac; Josie Totah as Lexi, a popular transgender student at Bayside; Alycia Pascual-Peña as Aisha Garcia, Daisy’s BFF who plays on the football team; Belmont Cameli as Jessie’s son, Jamie, the football captain; Dexter Darden as Devante Young, a new student who takes over the musical theater program; and John Michael Higgins as Principal Ronald Toddman.
“I think there are little easter eggs that people find,” Hoog, 21, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the show’s premiere. “I think the whole old cast really let us kind of have our freedom with finding what the new school is, and kind of letting our imagination run with that.”
The Freaky actor also added that the Pitch alum, 46, gave him one piece of important advice: “He said, ‘Have fun.’ I remember the first day on set with him, he looked at me and was like, ‘Have fun with it.’”
Berkley, 48, also gave advice to Cameli. “It was really fun for me and Elizabeth to talk about what growing up would be like and the family dynamic and all that stuff,” the Husband actor told Us. “And Elizabeth has just been amazing on all accounts. She kind of took me under her wing.”
Scroll through the gallery below for the references made to the original series.