Mario Lopez Says The ‘Saved By The Bell’ Reboot Will Be “A Little Edgier” But “Not Naughty”

Published on May 8, 2020.

When class for Bayside High is back in session, things around the school may be “a little edgier” than people remember.

Saved by the Bell is being revived as part of NBCUniversal’s first set of shows for their upcoming streaming service, Peacock, which is set to debut later this July. No premiere date for the Saved by the Bell revival has yet been announced.

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Mario Lopez, who portrayed popular jock A.C. Slater on the original series, is set to return and is excited about coming back to familiar turf.

“It’s going great,” Lopez told PEOPLE when asked about the project. “We have like two or three more episodes to go to finish it up and I think people are gonna like it.”

“It’s a little edgier and updated, but not naughty by all means,” the 46-year-old actor teased. “It’s a lot of fun and I’m having fun with it.”

Original Saved by the Bell characters such as Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s Zack Morris, Elizabeth Berkley’s Jessie Spano and Tiffani Thiessen’s Kelly Kapowski are also set to return alongside new cast additions like Mitchell Hoog, who will portray Morris’ son Mac, and Belmont Cameli, who will star as Jamie Spano, the son of Jessie Spano.

Other new characters on the show will be played by Josie Totah, Haskiri Velazquez, Dexter Darden, and Alycia Pascual-Pena.

The Saved by the Bell reboot will focus on the story of what happened when California Gov. Zack Morris receives backlash for closing several low-income high schools and proposed that the affected students be sent to one of the highest-performing schools in the state – which includes Bayside High.

“The old gang’s gonna be back together, the new cast we have is great and very creative,” Lopez said. “It was like we picked up where we left off.”

There will be some notable absences from the cast though, including Dustin Diamond’s Screeh and Lark Voorhies’ Lisa Turtle. Both Saved by the Bell alums have spoken out about not being included in the series reboot.