‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Cast Shares What Their Characters Would Be Doing Now During ’90s Con (It’s Dark!)

90210PANEL-1-2
Nick Cinea, courtesy of Thats4Entertainment

Fans of the 1990s series Beverly Hills, 90210 might wonder where the characters are now and what they’d be up to. At the ’90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut, Ian Ziering, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Jason Priestley, and Rebecca Gayheart answered that question about their own characters and things got a little dark and hilarious.

Ziering joked that his character, Steve Sanders, would be in a forest in Costa Rica working as the life coach to the world’s most interesting man.

Priestley didn’t have as high of hopes for his character, Brandon Walsh. He said that due to the downsizing in the journalism profession, he’d probably be unemployed, living in his car with a small hibachi grill in his trunk. Ouch! Ian said Brandon could come live with him in Costa Rica though. The moderator suggested that some of the ladies might be on the Real Housewives franchise while Spelling quipped that Donna Martin might be swinging from a pole somewhere.

The cast of ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ reunited for ’90s Con

BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry, Tori Spelling, Brian-Austin Green, Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, Gabrielle Carteris, Ian Ziering, (1991), 1990-2000

Everett Collection

After Garth joked that her character, Kelly Taylor, should have ended up with Brenda & Brandon’s dad Jim Walsh (played by James Eckhouse), she suggested that her character might be arrested for stalking him, which got a lot of laughs from the audience.

The entire panel was full of laughter and reminiscing, as the cast talked about their favorite episodes and how they are still close friends. They even briefly paid tribute to the late Luke Perry, who played Dylan McKay, and revealed that he was truly as cool as he seemed.

Beverly Hills 90210 '90s Con

Nick Cinea/Thats4Entertainment

When talking about being cast on the show, Spelling admitted that she was extra nervous to impress because she was the producer’s daughter (her father is the late Aaron Spelling). Priestly chimed in that he remembers being at Aaron’s house and “the coolest thing was that he had containers of cigarettes everywhere in his house … in little dishes and ashtrays everywhere.” He said he smoked then because it was a different time and he loved the free cigarettes. A different time indeed! Garth remembers meeting everyone and thought everyone looked so pretty.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ian Ziering (@ianziering)

A few of the cast members also revealed their favorite episodes to film. Priestly boasted that his favorite was the one where Donna Martin graduates because of … that scene (fans know!) He didn’t divulge any details because of any children that might be in the audience. Gayheart added that she was only in nine episodes of the series but loved filming the wedding scene. Since she wasn’t as familiar with filming, it was her first experience seeing helicopters trying to get photos of the cast. She said they all looked up and flipped it off and the photo ended up getting printed.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jennie 💛 (@jenniegarth)

Much like many of the other casts at ’90s Con, they spoke about how grateful they were to grow up in one of the last decades without social media. Social media plays a big part in the popularity of shows these days and the cast believed Beverly Hills, 90210 probably would have been canceled much sooner if social media were in the picture!

Charmed cast '90s Con

Nick Cinea/Thats4Entertainment

While Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh) did not join the cast for the 90210 panel, she did appear during the Charmed panel. Doherty had previously announced in 2020 that her stage 4 breast cancer had returned so fans were eager for a health update. She said at the convention, “I‘m feeling great, thank you! … This crowd is amazing!” She also related her own story to her character Prue on the show by sharing, “Prue was a very, very, very strong woman. I was a really strong woman. I played her as that. And I think that did have a definitive impression upon a lot of younger women who were watching the show, to grow up with that sort of inner strength and to help their families and take care of their families. We’re very much about empowering women and empowering women within the show.”

Who was your favorite character on Beverly Hills, 90210? What was your favorite episode? You can still watch the ’90s classic on Hulu or Paramount+.

Tough Guys, Bad Girls
Want More?

Tough Guys, Bad Girls

September 2017

Hard-boiled detectives, gangsters and their gals — a gritty look at the art of noir and the craft of going wrong.

Buy This Issue