One of Your Favorite ’90s TV Couples Had a Reunion, Just in Time for Valentine’s Day
Jessie and Slater are back together!
The world premiere of Cobra Kai’s series finale at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood reunited one of the most beloved TV couples of the ’90s. Saved by the Bell stars Elizabeth Berkley, 52, and Mario Lopez, 51, hit the Wednesday, Feb. 12, event’s red carpet, posing together for a photo that is sure to take fans back to the era of Hammer pants and scrunchies.
Of course, their understated, very grown-up black ensembles were a far cry from the dayglo threads and bold prints they wore on the teen sitcom, which aired on NBC from 1989 to 1993. But the nostalgia vibes were still strong.
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Berkley and Lopez co-starred in Saved by the Bell as high school sweethearts Jessie Spano and A.C. Slater. Their characters’ contrasting personalities — she a progressive overachiever, he a less-than-studious jock — and on-again, off-again relationship were highlights of the hit series.
While Berkley departed the series after its May 1993 finale, Lopez went on to appear as Slater in the short-lived follow-up show Saved by the Bell: The College Years.
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More than two decades later, both actors reprised their roles in Peacock’s 2020 Saved by the Bell reboot. The new series found their characters back at Bayside High, Jessie working as the school’s counselor and Slater teaching P.E., with the lingering spark of their teen romance causing tension. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack) and Tiffani Thiessen (Kelly) also returned, as the governor and first lady of California, while Lark Voorhies (Lisa) made a cameo as well. Costar Dustin Diamond (Screech) died in 2021 following a cancer diagnosis.
The actors themselves have remained close in the more than 30 years since the original series premiered. In 2019, Berkley and Lopez joined costars Gosselaar and Thiessen and their spouses for a reunion dinner.
“This is what 30+ years of friendship looks like,” Gosselaar captioned a photo from the evening on Instagram. Berkley shared the pic as well with a “FRIENDS FOREVER” caption, a nod to an iconic moment from the show.
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“It’s a very special thing we share,” Berkley told PEOPLE of the cast in 2020 ahead of the Peacock reboot’s premiere. “It’s touching to have all these years of people that you care about and that you’re rooting for. To be on those same sets with those faces I know and love so well feels like coming home.”
During an appearance alongside Gosselaar and Berkley at the 2023 90s Con in Hartford, Conn., Lopez also reflected on the cast’s time working together as young actors on the original series. “That was such a special part of our lives that you wish — you wish you could just kind of bottle up and sort of take it with you wherever you go.”
