KEY POINTS
-
Beverly Hills, 90210stars Jason Priestley and Jennie Garth discussed how their characters, Brandon and Kelly, were supposed to get married on the series.
-
Garth recalls being upset that the storyline was scrapped.
-
Priestley also revealed he urged executive producer Aaron Spelling to end the show sooner.
Brandon Walsh and Kelly Taylor were supposed to live happily ever after onBeverly Hills, 90210… well, at least, according toJason Priestley.
The actor — who currently stars on The CW’s Private Eyes West Coast —played Brandon for eight seasons on the iconic ’90s teen drama, and he recently revisited the show’s infamously abandoned wedding storyline during his long-awaited first appearance on9021OMG, the show’s rewatch podcast hosted by his former costarJennie Garth. And while fans have spent decades debating whether Kelly should have chosen Brandon or Dylan McKay (Luke Perry), Priestley made it clear that he believed Brandon and Kelly were always meant to end up together.
“Yeah, I think so,” Priestley said when Garth asked whether the couple should have gotten married. “I think that was the overall plan.”
So what exactly happened?
“I left,” Priestley explained.
As he pointed out, Brandon couldn’t exactly marry Kelly if he was in Washington, D.C. The character’s departure came after the eighth season, when Brandon moved away from Beverly Hills because he accepted a job in the nation’s capital, leaving Kelly behind the couple’s relationship literally at the altar.
Garth, for her part, had some lingering feelings about how the whole thing played out.
“I was so pissed when they didn’t get married,” she admitted, recalling her reaction while revisiting the episodes on the podcast. “And then they call off the wedding at the wedding.”
Priestley went on to share his feelings about the show’s eighth season, describing the storylines as increasingly melodramatic. The developments he recalled included characters in comas and surprise twin brothers showing up at the hospital. “There was lots of crazy stuff that happened in that eighth season,” he said of the season, adding, “It started to feel very daytime-y in a way.”
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.
The actor also revealed that he had been considering leaving the series for a while before his exit at the beginning of season 9. He said herepeatedly urged executive producer Aaron Spelling to bring the show to an end while its ratings were still strong.
“I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Priestley explained. He recalled Spelling saying he would never end the show. “‘They’re going to pull me off this set in a body bag,'” Priestley said, imitating Spelling’s voice and his determination to keep the series going.
The actor ultimately decided to move on, though he said that he might have made a different decision and stayed on had he known the show would continue for only about another year and a half after his departure. Beverly Hills, 90210 ended its 10-season run in May 2000.
As for Kelly’s debate of Brandon vs. Dylan, Garth understood why her character picked Brandon, saying, “Kelly ultimately decided that stability and, like, less drama was better. That’s why she went with Brandon, and I feel like that’s why they should have gotten married.”
“I also understand that Kelly wanted to go on a journey of self-discovery,” Priestley said, discussing how Garth’s character, who had a complicated romantic history throughout the series, needed to discover who she was without a boyfriend.
Still, for fans who spent years rooting for the couple, the wedding-that-almost-was remains one of the show’s most frustrating romantic twists. And now, thanks to Priestley, there’s at least some reassurance that Brandon and Kelly’s split wasn’t necessarily the endgame the series had originally envisioned (though it doesn’t settle the debate of whether she should’ve picked Brandon or Dylan).
Listen to the full episode between Priestley and Garth below:
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
