Mark-Paul Gosselaar Opens Up About Playing Zack Morris On ‘Saved By The Bell’ And Talks Reboot Possibility

While Mark-Paul Gosselaar is now known for his various roles on television, many people who grew up in the ’90s remember him as Zack Morris on the show Saved by the Bell. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mark-Paul recently opened up on the Awards Chatter podcast about playing the iconic high school character, and revealed whether or not he would be open to a reboot of the beloved series.

“I am now Dennis’ [Haskins] age when we were filming Saved by the Bell,” Mark-Paul said. Haskins played the principal, Mr. Belding, on the show, and Mark-Paul’s character, Zack Morris, often found himself in his office for his trouble-making ways.

While Zack Morris may have epitomized what it meant to be a “cool ’90s high schooler,” Mark-Paul insists that he was not like the character he portrayed, saying, “Zack Morris was a character that I created from seeing the really cool kids in my school. I was not one of those kids.”

Saved by the Bell ran for four seasons, and an additional season of the College Years followed several of the cast members through college. Mark-Paul appeared on the College Years alongside Mario Lopez, who portrayed the character Slater in the series, as well as Tiffani Thiessen, who played the love interest of Zack, Kelly Kapowski.

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Gosselaar admitted that, after appearing on the show, he faced being typecast.

“I was a character. I was typecast, I mean, there’s no way around it. Back then, you were either a TV actor or a film actor; there really was no crossover, especially if you were a child actor.”

He has since appeared on NYPD Blue, as well as The Passage. While he has clearly moved on from the Zack Morris character, some wonder if there is any hope for a reboot of the series. After all, many beloved shows have been rebooted recently, including Roseanne and Full House.

Asked about the possibility of a reboot, Mark-Paul said, “I’m okay with never seeing a reboot ever again.”

While that doesn’t sound too promising for Saved by the Bell fans, he isn’t totally opposed to the idea of going back to Bayside, though, and left some hope for fans.

“If it was a good product that I felt wouldn’t tarnish the original product.”

Of course, there isn’t any official chatter about a Saved by the Bell reboot just yet, but fans certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Zack Morris and his friends on their screens again.