‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Ended 20 Years Ago: What Happened Next

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‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Ended 20 Years Ago: What Happened Next

It’s been two decades since fans first said goodbye to Beverly Hills, 90210. The ‘90s drama, which starred Tori Spelling (Donna Martin), Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor), Luke Perry (Dylan McKay), Jason Priestley (Brandon Walsh), Brian Austin Green (David Silver), Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders), Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea Zuckerman) and Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh), ran for 10 seasons from 1990 to 2000 on Fox. While Spelling, Garth, Green and Ziering were the only original cast members to stay on the show for its 10-year run, Perry returned for the final two seasons. Priestley, Carteris and Tiffani Thiessen (Valerie Malone) all reprised their roles for the May 2000 finale, but Doherty, who left after season 4, did not return. Priestley later admitted that he regrets walking away at the beginning of season 9. [sendtonews type="float" key="IlxmRR1n2C-3114105-14453"] "I felt that the character of Brandon had kind of run his course. I had explored everything I wanted to explore with him," the actor told CNN in 2014. "In retrospect, I do regret leaving. Understanding what I do now about story and character, I believe that [Aaron Spelling] was pushing the story in a direction that would have had Brandon and Kelly end up together at the end of the show and I think I probably should have stuck around to its fruition." He added that his exit “hurt Aaron’s feelings,” referring to the late TV producer. "Aaron and I had worked very closely together for a number of years,” Priestley explained. “He gave me a lot of opportunities, and I feel like my departure hurt his feelings and I never meant to do that." During the series finale, fans watched Kelly and Dylan seemingly reunite and David and Donna get married. Tori later revealed in her 2008 memoir, sTORI Telling, that she had “a surge of wondering” if she was “in love” with Green for real while filming the wedding scene. “I’d had my eyes on him from the moment we did the pilot. There was some puppy love there,” Tori wrote, noting the fictional couple exchanging vows “seemed so real” on camera. “I told Jennie Garth I still felt a connection with him, but she said it was probably a normal side effect of the plot. As we played out that fairy-tale wedding, I was swept up in the romance of it all … Afterward it faded away and I realized Jennie was right — it was just filming." Beverly Hills, 90210 is currently streaming on Hulu, but the story didn’t end after the May 17, 2000, finale. Keep scrolling for the details:

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The First Reunion

Fox hosted Beverly Hills, 90210: 10-Year High School Reunion to celebrate the characters’ fictional graduation anniversary. While Spelling and Green opted not to film the retrospective, it marked the first time Doherty saw former costars Priestley, Garth, Carteris, Perry and Ziering in years.

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The Red Carpet Reunion

The cast came together to celebrate Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place DVDs coming out in 2006.

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The Reboot

The CW launched a reboot of the drama, simply titled 90210, in 2008. While Spelling and Doherty made guest appearances on season 1, Garth reprised her role as Kelly Taylor for 20 episodes. In the reboot, fans learned that Kelly and Dylan weren’t together, but they had a son named Sammy. She also worked at West Beverly as the school’s guidance counselor and took care of half-sister Erin Silver (Jessica Stroup), who was born in the original series.

Kelly and Brenda briefly returned to their old ways fighting over West Beverly teacher Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold) as Brenda worked in the high school’s drama department. The BFFs made amends before Brenda moved to China to adopt a little girl.

Donna, meanwhile, was still married to David, but returned to California to see Kelly as the couple were having marital problems. Donna, a successful fashion designer in Japan, brought their daughter Ruby along for the visit. While she planned to open a store in Beverly Hills, Donna returned to Japan after David reached out.

Joe E. Tata also reprised his role as Peach Pit owner Nat, while Priestly directed an episode.

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The Post-Show Drama

While Spelling and Garth seemed to only grow closer after the show wrapped, they had a falling out with Thiessen. The Saved by the Bell star confirmed the feud to Howard Stern in 2012.

"We had a falling out and we grew apart,” Thiessen, who was a bridesmaid in Garth’s wedding, said of the What I Like About You alum. “I was the one who was hurt, let's just say that. I was the one who was hurt. … It's funny, our relationship started really rough and ended the way it started. It's water under the bridge … I've moved on. I wish her well.”

As for Spelling, Thiessen admitted that she sided with her former costar’s first husband, Charlie Shanian, after she left him for Dean McDermott.

“We were close with Charlie … My best friend was Charlie's roommate,” Thiessen said at the time, noting that it was "a hard situation for everybody" involved. “[But] our kids go to the same school, and she's moved on. I'm glad she's happy, and she's having tons of kids and she's great.”

Years later, Garth and Spelling were accused of throwing shade at Thiessen during an appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2017.

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‘Mystery Girls’

Spelling and Garth reunited onscreen for ABC Family’s short-lived sitcom Mystery Girls in 2014.

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Losing Luke

The cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 mourned Perry in March 2019 after he suffered a massive stroke and died at age 52.

“Obviously we think about him every day, and it’s a huge loss for us and everybody out there,” Spelling told Us in 2019.

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The Quasi-Revival

A month before Perry’s passing, Fox ordered a quasi-revival of Beverly Hills, 90210, starring Spelling, Garth, Priestley, Green, Ziering and Carteris playing fictionalized versions of themselves. While Perry hadn’t signed on due to his role on the CW’s Riverdale, Doherty was inspired to join after his death. BH90210, which included dream sequences of the cast in character, ran for six episodes.