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'Saved by the Bell' reboot is happening, with Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley and Josie Totah
Raechal ShewfeltEditor, Yahoo Entertainment
January 6, 2020, 8:48 PM EST
Josie Totah will star in the Saved by the Bell reboot. (Photo by Presley Ann/FilmMagic)
Get ready for the next generation of students at Bayside High.
The team behind the upcoming Saved by the Bell reboot has cast Josie Totah, an actress known for her work on Glee and the Mindy Kaling-created show Champions, as its star, according to The Hollywood Reporter and NBC News. The revived series will premiere this summer on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.
Totah will play Lexi, a Bayside cheerleader who is “both admired and feared by her fellow students.” The actress, whose work includes the Disney Channel show Jessie and the Netflix comedy No Good Nick, was previously known as J.J. Totah. She came out as transgender in a 2018 essay for Time magazine.
Her castmates include Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley, from the popular earlier version of the series, who will return as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano.
In October, Tiffani Thiessen told Us Weekly that both she and co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played leads Kelly Kapowski and Zack Morris in the original Saved by the Bell, were unaware of the reboot until they saw it in the news. She said cameos are unlikely, because both are working on other projects. “Literally, Mark-Paul and I were like, ‘Oh, wow! I didn’t know that was happening,’” Thiessen said.
Still, Gosselaar’s character will be key to the reboot’s plot: “When California governor Zack Morris gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools, he proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state — including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the over privileged Bayside kids a much needed and hilarious dose of reality.”
Yahoo is now part of Verizon Media
Raechal ShewfeltEditor, Yahoo Entertainment
January 6, 2020, 8:48 PM EST
Josie Totah will star in the Saved by the Bell reboot. (Photo by Presley Ann/FilmMagic)
Get ready for the next generation of students at Bayside High.
The team behind the upcoming Saved by the Bell reboot has cast Josie Totah, an actress known for her work on Glee and the Mindy Kaling-created show Champions, as its star, according to The Hollywood Reporter and NBC News. The revived series will premiere this summer on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.
Totah will play Lexi, a Bayside cheerleader who is “both admired and feared by her fellow students.” The actress, whose work includes the Disney Channel show Jessie and the Netflix comedy No Good Nick, was previously known as J.J. Totah. She came out as transgender in a 2018 essay for Time magazine.
Her castmates include Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley, from the popular earlier version of the series, who will return as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano.
In October, Tiffani Thiessen told Us Weekly that both she and co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played leads Kelly Kapowski and Zack Morris in the original Saved by the Bell, were unaware of the reboot until they saw it in the news. She said cameos are unlikely, because both are working on other projects. “Literally, Mark-Paul and I were like, ‘Oh, wow! I didn’t know that was happening,’” Thiessen said.
Still, Gosselaar’s character will be key to the reboot’s plot: “When California governor Zack Morris gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools, he proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state — including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the over privileged Bayside kids a much needed and hilarious dose of reality.”
Yahoo is now part of Verizon Media
