Saved by the Bell reboot to star transgender teen Josie Totah in leading role
Saved by the Bell star Josie Totah attends the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 28, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Rich Fury/Getty Images for GLAAD)
A Saved by the Bell reboot has been ordered, starring transgender teen Josie Totah.
NBC has ordered a revival of the classic 1990s teen TV show, which will revisit Bayside High and bring back several of the show’s iconic characters.
Trans TV star Josie Totah will star in reboot
The new cast will be led by Josie Totah, an 18-year-old transgender actress.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Totah will play Lexi, a “beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students.”
The star previously appeared in Disney show Jessie and NBC sitcom Champions – but the upcoming show will be her first major TV appearance since coming out as transgender in 2018.
Josie Totah will head up the new Saved by the Bell cast (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Marie Claire)
Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley will return as original characters AC Slater and Jessie Spano, while the plot will revolve around original lead Zack Morris, who has become Governor of Californa, closing low-income schools.
Totah tweeted: “this is truly a dream come true!!!”
Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez has come under fire on trans issues before
Lopez previously came under fire for comments he made about transgender people in July 2019.
In an interview with Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and supporter of Donald Trump, Lopez said parents who support transgender children were “dangerous”.
He said: “If you’re three years old and you’re saying you’re feeling a certain way or you think you’re a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it’s dangerous as a parent to make this determination then, okay, you’re going to a boy or a girl.
“It’s sort of alarming and I just think about the repercussions later on.”
Lopez added that his children, who attend a Catholic school, would not spend time with kids who were allowed to self-identify gender. “They don’t kick it with those kids,” he said.
The actor later apologised.
He said: “The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were.
“I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself.
“Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful.”
