Saved By The Bell Revival Scoop

It's been 27 years since Zack Morris graduated from Bayside High, and more than 20 years since the last extension of the Saved by the Bell franchise. Later this year, the NBC comedy will be revived — but where? And with whom? Scroll down for all the latest intel on the highly anticipated revival...

Elizabeth Berkley is "so excited" to step back into the role of Jessie Spano. She, too, is a series regular and producer.

Mario Lopez will reprise his role as A.C. Slater in a series-regular capacity. He is also a producer.

RETURNING CAST

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who currently stars on ABC's mixed-ish, will reprise his role as Zack Morris in a recurring capacity. He is expected to appear in three episodes during Season 1.

Tiffani Thiessen, who is currently tied to Netflix's Alexa & Katie, will appear in "an episode or two" as Kelly Kapowski.

No word yet on the status of Zack and Kelly's marriage, but, um... we'll just leave this here.

WHO IS NOT RETURNING (YET)

Lark Voorhies is not expected to reenroll as fashionista Lisa Turtle. She recently told Dr. Oz that she felt "slighted and hurt" about not being asked to reprise her breakout role (watch video).

Dustin Diamond, who played Samuel "Screech" Powers, has also been excluded. Presumably for all the reasons listed here.

"Out of all the cast members, I was in... the most [episodes], and that's not the case anymore if I'm not in the new one," Diamond said in a recent interview. "And how do you have Saved by the Bell without Screech, right? ... We should all be a part of this."

When asked about Diamond and Voorhies, Gosselaar told TVLine that he has "no idea" whether Screech or Lisa will be referenced in the continuation.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What is going on here?" Beats us! As of now, there has been no indication that Dennis Haskins, who played Bayside principal Mr. Belding, is involved in the revival — but there's reason to believe that the character has retired...

THE OFFSPRING

Mitchell Hoog (Roswell, New Mexico) has been cast as Mac Morris, "the handsome, charming, privileged son" of MPG's beloved slacker.

Belmont Cameli (Empire) is set to play Jamie Spano, Jessie's "sensitive man-child son" who is the captain of the Bayside football team.

THE REST OF THE STUDENT BODY

Josie Totah (Champions) will play Lexi, "a beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students."

THE NEW 'MR. BELDING'

John Michael Higgins (Great News) will play Belding's successor, the beleaguered Principal Toddman, who is constantly being pranked by his privileged students and yelled at by their entitled parents.

Alycia Pascual-Pena (Chase) will portray Aisha, Daisy's "ultra-competitive" BFF who tries out for Bayside's football team.

Haskiri Velazquez (The Birch) will co-star as Daisy, a "smart, ambitious" sophomore who attends Bayside after her high school gets shut down.

THE CREATIVE

The revival hails from executive producer Tracey Wigfield, who created the NBC comedy Great News. Her previous credits include 30 Rock, The Mindy Project and the Four Weddings and a Funeral reboot.

Meanwhile, the writing staff includes Funny or Die's Dashiell Driscoll, the creative force behind Zack Morris Is Trash. The popular web-series revisits episodes of the original series to reveal that Zack has always been "a completely horrible human being."

"I'm a huge fan of that series," Mark-Paul Gosselaar told TVLine. "And some of that is in [the revival], which I absolutely love: Zack Morris being a little offensive and sort of not being on the right side of things."

Unlike the original series, the new SBTB will be a single-camera comedy, a la The Office. There will be no studio audience or canned laughter.

WHERE/WHEN TO WATCH

A Saved by the Bell premiere date has not been announced just yet. The revival will be exclusive to NBCUniversal's forthcoming streaming service Peacock, which doesn't launch until Wednesday, July 15. 

Additional reporting on the SBTB revival can be found here.

THE PREMISE

Zack Morris — who is now the governor of California — lands in hot water for closing too many low-income high schools. When he suggests sending the affected students to the highest-performing schools in the state, including Bayside High, the influx of new students "gives the overprivileged Bayside kids a much-needed and hilarious dose of reality."

Also making a return is the gang's iconic hangout spot, The Max, as well as its namesake owner (played by comedian/magician Ed Alonzo).