Mark-Paul Gosselaar has starred in a number of TV series, like NYPD Blue, Franklin & Bash, Pitch, and the recently cancelled vampire thriller The Passage. But, to a significant number of Gen-Xers, he will always be remembered as smart aleck Zack Morris, the lead on NBC Saturday morning kids’ series Saved By The Bell. In a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter for its Awards Chatter podcast, Gosselaar discussed his most famous role, explaining that “Zack Morris was a character that I created from seeing the really cool kids in my school… I was not one of those kids.” Hard to believe, since he played one so well across several seasons and followup projects like Saved By The Bell: The College Years and Saved By The Bell: Wedding In Las Vegas.
Post-Bell, things were a little tougher, but Gosselaar got a break when TV auteur Steven Bochko decided to hire him as Sipowicz’s new partner on NYPD Blue. He also took a turn at stage acting, which reignited his passion for his career, and joined the cast of those shows above, and, likely, will be cast in more. Could one of those new series include a return to the role that made him famous? Gosselaar told THR, “‘I’m okay with never seeing a reboot ever again,’— before leaving the door open for more Saved By The Bell episodes, ‘if it was a good product that I felt wouldn’t tarnish the original product.’”
After all, Gosselaar and his old castmates Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, and Elizabeth Berkley were recently spotted all having dinner together with their spouses, and had previously reunited a few years ago on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. Maybe a new Bell could put Zack in a more administrative role, as Gosselaar points out, “I am now Dennis’ [Haskins, who played principal Mr. Belding] age when we were filming Saved by the Bell.”