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Mario Lopez spilled exclusive scoop on the new Peacock series and why he felt like the "goofy" older brother to the new generation of Saved By the Bell stars.
A.C. Slater is all grown up!
Mario Lopez is reprising his iconic Saved By the Bell role for Peacock's reimagined series, launching this Wednesday, Nov. 25. While it's been over 30 years since the classic show premiered, Lopez says he and fellow O.G. co-stars Elizabeth Berkley, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen still hang out to this day.
"I keep in contact with them. We went out to dinner not too long ago, I'll go over to Tiffani's house, our kids will play together. So it wasn't like I hadn't seen them in a while, so it wasn't that trippy," Lopez told E! News exclusively of reuniting with his longtime friends on the set of the new Saved By the Bell. "But to slip back into that character was a bit of a trip. I liked it because he's one of those guys that, I don't want to say he didn't mature too much, but he's kind of stuck in that era. You know those dudes that are kind of stuck in that era? In their glory days rocking the same kind of hair and clothes and all that, which makes it a lot of fun as a character."
Lopez previously teased that the reimagined series will have lots of Easter eggs and references original fans will enjoy. We'll even see him bust a few moves in the updated version. "Any time I got to dance was a lot of fun. So we did some old school dances and some throwbacks," he smiled.
As for how Peacock's reimagined version will combine old and new, Lopez credits show runner Tracey Wigfield for seamlessly updating the beloved franchise while maintaining its original charm.
"I thought they were very clever in the way they had a balance of the nostalgia with this updated version focusing on these new kids, which are honestly I think are a lot more mature and savvy and just hip, as opposed to when we were in school," he dished. "You can't be in high school forever so obviously we had to grow up and now we're sort of in those more mentor type roles. But considering that I thought they did a very good job as far as blending the old school world and this new world."
In the new version, Lopez's Slater is Bayside High's athletic director looking to recruit some A-list talent from the new generation of Bayside students. Lopez had nothing but praise for Saved By the Bell's new crop of young actors.
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"They were great! I really like them," he gushed. "They're all really talented, great group of kids. Really smart. They all got a long really well together. I was kinda like their goofy, older, immature brother in real life, so we had a lot of fun. I like hanging with them."
Lopez jokingly added that reprising his role over 30 years later, "makes me feel crazy old." "Yeah, it kinda trips me out," he laughed. "I didn't think decades later people would care but hey, hopefully they'll check it out and like what they see."
Lopez says he hopes his three kids, Gia, 9, Dominic, 7, and Santino, 1, will love the reimagined version.
"They're definitely going to check it out," he revealed. "They don't really watch the old version but my daughter said they're going to give this one a chance, so we'll see."
"My mom has shown them the original, they just weren't really into it," he added. "They weren't really into it, so hopefully they'll have a change of heart."
Saved By the Bell season one launches Wednesday, Nov. 25 on Peacock! Scroll down for more scoop on Peacock's Saved By the Bell.
(E! and Peacock are both part of the NBCUniversal family)
Author:Brett Malec - Source: E Online