Mark-Paul Gosselaar Will Appear in Saved by the Bell Reboot After All

It was hard for fans to imagine a reboot of the classic kid-com “Saved by the Bell” without its star, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and now they won’t have to.

The man who smirked directly into the camera for years as Zack Morris assured his fans that he will be taking part in the upcoming series revival, set to air on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

“Everybody can sleep well at night,” he assured reporters at the Television Critics Assocation press tour. And he’s pretty confident that he won’t be alone, adding that he believes co-star and on-screen love Tiffani-Amber Thiessen “has been engaged with” about returning as well.

“It looks like you will have us in some capacity,” he said.

Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley had already signed on to reprise their roles as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano as series regulars for the new launch, which takes place a generation later at Bayside High.

As for Zack, even if they’d wanted to make it happen, Gosselaar wouldn’t be available to appear as a regular on “Bell” because of his commitments already to freshman series “Mixed-ish.”

But there’s nothing stopping Gosselaar from being an executive producer on the revival, with The Hollywood Reporter saying he’s also expected to appear in three episodes.

Three episodes is the industry standard for a series regular on one show to appear on another, which is why Johnny Galecki was limited to three per season on the “Roseanne” revival and its spin-off “The Conners” so long as “The Big Bang Theory” was still in production.

Gosselaar’s character had already been established as the governor of California, who sets things in motion by closing down low-income high schools and busing those students to higher-performing schools, like Bayside. Now, it looks like he’ll get the chance to see just what that looks like in person.

Peacock picked up the show straight to series back in September, though fans are still awaiting more details about Peacock, which is set to launch in April, like just how much it’s going to cost. There have been rumors of a commercial-driven format that would make it free, but NBCUniversal has not clarified anything just yet.

Details are expected when NBCUniversal presents to its investors on January 16. In the meantime, Bayside fanatics can rest easy knowing that Zack Morris will at least have some presence on the new series … and possibly Kelly Kapowski, as well.

Josie Totah (“Champions”) has been cast as the new lead of the series, the most popular girl in school, while John Michael Higgins (“Pitch Perfect”) steps up as the new principal, replacing Dennis Haskins’ Principal Belding.

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