Everything You Need to Know About the 'Saved by the Bell' Reboot

1 | Stars from the original series are reprising their characters.

Plenty of your old friends from Bayside High are back in the fold, including Elizabeth Berkley as over-achiever Jessie Spano, now the school's guidance counselor; Mario Lopez as jock A.C. Slater, obviously a coach; and Mark Paul Gosselaar as charming troublemaker Zack Morris, who somehow grew up to be the governor of California. (Who are we kidding? Of course someone with his ability to spin the truth was able to succeed in politics.)

Gosselaar confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Tiffani Thiessen, a.k.a. cheerleader Kelly Kapowsky, would also be back—but that the pandemic got in the way of the dates when they were supposed to film. (Yes, Bayside's '90s power couple is still together.) No word yet on whether Lark Voorhies (Lisa), Dustin Diamond (Screech), Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding), or any other actors from the original will return, but it's probably a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for cameos when the reboot finally premieres. And for more celeb beginnings, here are 25 Stars You Didn't Know Got Their Start in Commercials.

2 | But it's introducing a new generation of characters, including some Bayside offspring.

Saved by the Bell is still a show about cool teens, so the adults will be sharing the stage with an ensemble of newcomers. The young members of the show's main cast include Belmont Cameli (Jamie), Dexter Darden (Devante), Mitchell Hoog (Mac), Alycia Pascual-Pena (Aisha), Josie Totah (Lexi), and Haskiri Velazquez (Daisy). And we already know how two of the teens are connected to the original crew: Cameli plays Jessie's son, and Hoog has been cast as Zack and Kelly's spawn.

3 | The Max is still around.

Today's youth will also get the chance to hang out at the coolest after-school spot in pop culture history: The Max. The new teaser includes a peek at the redesigned (but still totally radical) diner, plus the return of its magician/owner, played by Ed Alonzo. For more of that signature Max aesthetic, here are 20 Photos of 1990s Home Décor to Overwhelm You With Nostalgia.

4 | It's going to address timely social issues.

Back in its day, the original Saved by the Bell dealt with Saturday morning teen issues like drunk driving and peer pressure. The new version is aiming to tackle race and class tensions and includes some welcome LGBTQIA+ representation. The premise of the first season is that the predominantly white and middle class Bayside school district is shaken up when Gov. Morris closes several low-income schools and redistributes their students to those hallowed halls. And main cast member Totah, who is transgender, is playing a transgender character who's also the school's feared "queen bee."

"I feel like never seeing myself made me never felt truly accepted by the world," Totah said during a Television Critics Association (TCA) panel for the show, per ET. "I can't wait for people to be able to see themselves onscreen in that way."

5 | And be full of throwback references.

The nods to the Saved by the Bell of the past fly by so quickly in the teaser trailer, it's almost impossible to count them all. Some of them are meta, like the observation that the extras in The Max scenes were hardly ever high-school age, and some of them call back to legendary storylines, like when Jessie slaps a bottle of caffeine pills out of a student's hand.

"At first, they're so exciting, and then it gets even more exciting, but after that, it gets so scary, and in the end, you ruin your girl group's shot for a recording soundtrack," she says, to a very confused teen. We see what you did there, SBTB. And for more entertainment news, sign up for our daily newsletter.

6 | It comes from a writing alum of 30 Rock and The Mindy Project.

Several ideas for a revival of Saved by the Bell have apparently been floated over the years, but during the TCAs panel, Berkley said that it was the vision of executive producer Tracy Wigfield (plus the involvement of original series producer Franco Bario) that got her on board this one. Wigfield has serious TV comedy cred, having written and produced shows like 30 Rock, The Mindy Project, Great News, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Berkley praised "her creativity, her angle on bringing this back in, but with a whole new reimagining, something really relevant for now but still maintaining and embedding things that people loved about it."

7 | It will stream on Peacock.

Saved by the Bell is going straight to NBC's new streaming service, Peacock. But unfortunately for Tigers everywhere, there is no exact premiere date yet. (Thanks a lot, COVID.) The best intel we have is that this nostalgia-fest will be dropping on the service sometime before the end of the year.