Shannen Doherty is returning for Fox’s Beverly Hills, 90210 event series. Throughout the 1990’s, Beverly Hills, 90210 was nothing short of a phenomenon. The teen drama followed the lives of a group of friends living in the upscale Los Angeles area code, bringing with it plenty of intrigue, scandal, and romance.
Along with her on screen fraternal twin brother Brandon (played by Jason Priestly), Doherty was Brenda and the brother/sister combo were the latest additions to sunny California after a family move from Minnesota. Doherty was a major part of 90210 for the first four seasons, but tensions between herself, the cast, and the crew were originally cited as her reasons for leaving the series. Numerous years later, it was revealed that Doherty’s departure from the hit series did have something to do with her not getting along well with others, but the major reason was that she cut her hair without notifying anyone, thereby destroying her character’s continuity while filming the season. Doherty was fired and her absence was explained away in the next season as her having gone to school in Paris.
With a new series starring much of the original Beverly Hills 90210 cast on its way, Doherty appears set to make her way back to the posh area code. Variety is reporting that Doherty is the latest cast member of the original series coming back for BH90210, an “event” series in which the cast will play heightened versions of themselves as they attempt to get a 90210 reboot series off the ground. With just six-episodes planned, the new series will air this summer.
Doherty’s inclusion in BH90210 is something of a pleasant surprise for long-time fans of the series. When the reboot was initially confirmed earlier this year, Doherty and Luke Perry were the only stars from the original lineup to not commit. With Perry having recently passed away, perhaps Doherty’s resistance to the idea of a reunion has softened. As fans of the series are well aware, Perry’s 90210 bad boy character Dylan and Doherty’s Brenda were a couple for much of Doherty’s four seasons, so it will be interesting to see how the remainder of BH90210’s cast handles the absence of one of 90210’s most popular characters. Whether or not the series will take on more of a memorial tone with regard to Perry remains to be seen.
It’s great to see that Doherty is set to join the other original cast members some 19 years after the series officially came to an end. Though her legacy on 90210 is often one of a troublemaker due to her firing (and later on/off screen issues with her Charmed co-star Alyssa Milano), the BH90210 reboot is the perfect opportunity for the cast to reunite and take pride in having been part of something special. There are no guarantees that everything will go off without a hitch, of course, but then again, the potential for controversy has always been a major aspect of 90210’s intrigue.
Source: Variety