Saved by the Bell includes several easter and throwbacks to the original sitcom, star Mario Lopez has confirmed. Created by Sam Bobrick for NBC, Saved by the Bell is a teen sitcom - a retooled version of Disney Channel's Good Morning Bliss - that ran from 1989 to 1993, spanning over four seasons. While Saved by the Bell depicted the teenage experience in the most iconic way, the show also sheds light on some critical social issues like drug abuse and women's rights. The show also spawned two spin-offs, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
In late 2019, it was announced that NBC's new streaming service, Peacock, would relaunch Saved by the Bell as a sequel to the original series. The Peacock series centers on a new generation of students at Bayside High and several returning characters from the original show. In the series, Paul Gosselaar's Zack, who is now the Governor of California, faces backlash for closing too many low-income schools. To deal with the controversy, Zack decides to transfer students from the closed-schools to Bayside High. But as the new students arrive, they find themselves alienated by the Bayside's resident, privileged students, whose perception of reality is quite different than theirs.
Recently, Saved by the Bell reboot star, Mario Lopez, appeared on Ellen to discuss his new show and its connection with the previous one. During the conversation, Lopez revealed that while the reboot series will focus primarily on the new students, it will also bear several Easter Eggs, references, and throwbacks to the original show. Lopez said:
"The cast is back, the cast is back, you know it's primarily focused on the new kids but then the way with the old cast kind of coming back they did it in a very clever way. So I'm excited about it," Lopez said. "Yeah, there's a lot of little, what do they call them, like Easter Eggs, like throwbacks right? There's a lot of dancing. There are some splits. There's some other stuff."
Lopez starred as Albert Clifford "A.C." Slater, a popular athlete and military brat who transferred to Bayside High from another school in the original show. In the reboot series, Lopez's Slater is a PE teacher and sports coach at the same school where he once studied. While Lopez will be joined by several of his old colleagues from the '90s show in the reboot show, he and Berkley will be the only original regulars on the show. Gosselaar will appear as a recurring character, whereas Thiessen will have a cameo role. Recently, it was also revealed that Lark Voorhies would also reprise her original Lisa Turtle role as a guest, leaving Dustin Diamond's Screech as the only character that won't appear in the new show.
It certainly bodes well for the Saved by the Bell reboot how it's trying to strike a balance between new and returning storylines and characters. In the reboot series, apart from wanting to know where all their favorite characters ended up, fans are also anxious about the impact of certain events that occurred during the original run. By including subtle references to the past, the Saved by the Bell reboot series will entertain long-time fans, without driving the focus away from the new students. Lopez's statement shows that the reboot series is doing its best to be relevant and accessible to all its viewers.
Source: Ellen Tube