Gone, but never forgotten. It’s been six months since Luke Perry’s untimely death, but Tori Spelling and the cast of BH90210 are still thinking about their late costar.
“Obviously we think about him every day, and it’s a huge loss for us and everybody out there,” the 46-year-old actress recently told Us Weekly exclusively at the L.O.L. Surprise! Winter Disco Fever Launch Party.
Perry died in March following a stroke. He was 52 years old.
Spelling, who co-created the Beverly Hills, 90210 quasi-revival with Jennie Garth, told Us that the cast walked a “delicate line” while debating how to honor Perry in the new series.
“We definitely payed homage to him in the first episode, but we didn’t want to make it something that people would say, like, ‘Oh, they’re using him as a tool, a narrative, based on a tragedy,’” the sTORI Telling author explained. “So we were really mindful of that and everyone kind of wanted to keep it private, and I respect that.”
During the BH90210 pilot, Spelling and Garth’s characters watched a scene of the original ‘90s drama featuring Perry’s Dylan McKay. The cast, which included Jason Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris and Shannen Doherty, also toasted to Perry during the episode.
BH90210’s first season, which followed the cast playing fictionalized versions of themselves trying to organize a reboot, wrapped in September.
“We wanted to do something different. I feel like there’s been a gazillion reboots, so we couldn’t just do the same old, and yeah, whatever happens, I’m really proud of the work we did,” Spelling told Us.
While Fox has yet to pick up the series for a second season, the True Tori alum already has plans for the show’s future.
“Definitely the next season, since the season ended doing the pilot of the reboot, we’ll definitely be more balanced with a show within a show,” she explained. “So the original 90210 characters, you’ll definitely see a lot more of them.
With reporting by Emily Marcus
