Saved by the Bell: Gosselaar Feels Peacock Canceled Revival Too Soon

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Saved by the Bell: Gosselaar Feels Peacock Canceled Revival Too Soon

Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Will Trent) addresses Peacock's "premature" cancellation of the Saved by the Bell revival series in 2022.

Published Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:37:07 -0600
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar says Peacock canceled the Saved by the Bell revival too soon after only two seasons in 2022.
• The Saved by the Bell star believed the reboot was a key Peacock title that helped draw viewers to the streamer.
• Gosselaar returned as Zack Morris, with Kelly, Jessie, and Slater helping connect the revival to the original series.
• The Saved by the Bell revival mixed legacy cast favorites with a new Bayside generation, leaving more stories untold.

Time out! Mark-Paul Gosselaar isn't quite over Peacock's cancellation of the Saved by the Bell revival in 2022, when the NBC streamer dropped the series after two seasons. The original series star, who was there from the beginning when it was the Disney Channel's Good Morning, Miss Bliss, alongside co-stars Lark Voorhies, the late Dustin Diamond, and the late Dennis Haskins, before it became a staple on NBC Saturday mornings, rebranded as Saved by the Bell, taking the series cast from John F. Kennedy Middle School in the Midwest to California's Bayside High without any explanation, which was a direct tongue-in-cheek reference for Gosselaar's Zack Morris in the Tracey Wigfield revival. While promoting his work with AstraZeneca, the Will Trent star spoke with Entertainment Weekly to air some grievances about what could have been and how Peacock dropping the ball on the show "exposed" the network.

Saved by the Bell Star Mark-Paul Gosselaar Reflects on Revival's Cancellation and Lost Potential

Gosselaar reprised the role that initially found him as governor of California before he retired from political life in season two, still married to his high school sweetheart, Kelly Kapowski Morris (Tiffani Thiessen). Taking more of a supporting role, the revival featured their SBTB co-stars Elizabeth Berkley Lauren and Mario Lopez, front and center, reprising their respective roles as the former overachiever-turned-Bayside counselor Jesse Spano, and star jock-turned PE teacher/football coach A.C. Slater. The two, who lead a new young cast of Haskiri Velazquez, Mitchell Hoog, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Pena, Belmont Cameli, and Dexter Darden, alongside new Principal Ronald Toddman (John Michael Higgins).

The only other members of the original cast to join in the revival were Voorhies, who reprised her role as fashionista Lisa Turtle, and Ed Alonzo as Max, the magician and owner of the popular Bayside hangout and restaurant bearing his name. "I was upset with NBC for canceling that," Gosselaar said. "I thought it was premature, especially on Peacock." The actor not only saw the SBTB revival as an opportunity to revisit his beloved signature role, but also as a flagship series for the streamer. "I think we really helped expose that network," he says, adding that the series also helped "bring people to it."

It wasn't the first time SBTB revisited Zack in adulthood with his appearances on the spinoff series Saved by the Bell: The New Class, the two TV movies Gone Hawaiian and Wedding in Las Vegas, and the short-lived The College Years, marking the only time the franchise was attempted as an NBC prime-time series. For more on how Gosselaar embraced a directing opportunity and how the set was run, and his "Meet Your Mark" campaign for AstraZeneca, you can check out the rest of the interview.

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