Passing the torch! The new generation of Saved by the Bell actors turned to original stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Elizabeth Berkley for advice on their roles.
Mitchell Hoog, who plays Zack Morris (Gosselaar) and Kelly Kapowski’s (Tiffani Thiessen) son, Mac Morris, went straight to the source for inspiration for his character.
“I think there’s little easter eggs that people find,” Hoog, 21, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the new series premiering on Peacock this month. “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 noted that he did get a pep talk from Gosselaar, 46, on how to be Zach 2.0. “He said, ‘Have fun.’ I remember the first day on set with him, he looked at me and was like, ‘Have fun with it,’” he recalled.
For Belmont Cameli, who plays Jessie Spano’s son, Jamie Spano, he revealed that Berkley, 48, was very hands on in guiding him through the role.
“It’s funny. Jamie is a lot like Jessie in a lot of ways,” he told Us, noting he tried to pick up some of Jessie’s mannerisms from the original show. “But he’s also a new version of the Spano name.”
The Husband actor continued: “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. And Elizabeth has just been amazing on all accounts. She kind of took me under her wing.”
Cameli explained that he had just moved to Los Angeles when he landed the part of Jamie, so Berkley “gave me a ton of advice about the industry and about television and all this great stuff. And I’ve met her wonderful family and we kind of just got to dive into the similarities and they are very similar.”
Many stars from the new the high school series admitted they were in awe of the OG cast but felt at ease once they met them in person.
“I was starstruck,” Haskiri Valazquez, who plays lead character Daisy, told Us. “They were part of our childhood and I don’t think that feeling will ever go away.”
She added: “They are so down to earth and they welcomed us with open arms. I couldn’t ask for a better cast to do a reboot to or a reimagined version to, because they are just so helpful.”
The sequel series Saved by the Bell follows a group of California students who are transferred to Bayside High from a low-income area thanks to a program enacted by Governor Zack Morris. It premieres on Peacock on November 25.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
