The cast of the “Beverly Hills 90210” revival took the stage at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Wednesday.
Shannon Doherty said that she had no intention of being a part of the new show until fellow cast mate Luke Perry passed away.
“[Nothing] against the show,” she said. “I knew that the show would, you know, get sold and do well with or without me. But they didn’t need me, so it just wasn’t at that moment what I wanted to be doing. And when Luke passed away, things drastically changed for me and I felt like it was great opportunity to honor him.”
Doherty went on to refer to the show as “a chance to heal” in the wake of Perry’s death.
The new show, dubbed “BH90210,” features a meta narrative with the cast playing heightened versions of themselves putting together a revival of the iconic ’90s series.
“We used people’s perceptions of ourselves as the launching point for our story telling,” Jennie Garth said. “To take back the power, spin it, and to tell the stories was really interesting for everyone involved.”
However, the cast noted that those playing their spouses and children on the show are not meant to be in any way representative of their real families for privacy reasons.
The new series features a blend of genres that Garth refers to as a “soapedy.” According to Tori Spelling, that was not always the plan.
“Originally the concept was for a half hour and we did think it would be more of a comedy,” she said. “But it was nice to partner with Fox and do a one-hour and to be able to try and set a tone that’s different than what’s out there.”
“BH90210” premieres tonight on Fox at 9 p.m. ET.