Why are Kelly and Jessie not in season 5 of Saved by the Bell?

As a huge Saved by the Bell fan ever since I first watched Zack Morris charm his way out of detention back in 1989, I was shocked when Kelly and Jessie, two of the show‘s central characters, disappeared without explanation in Season 5.

In this post, I‘ll share the inside scoop on exactly why Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley left this beloved high school comedy behind, plunging the show into an identity crisis from which it would never fully recover.

The Show Was Supposed to End after Season 4

Creator Peter Engel recently made waves among Saved by the Bell devotees like myself by revealing that the show was originally slated to end after the high school graduation finale of Season 4:

"We were supposed to end and not do another season. … So we shot the graduation but Tiffani had an offer to go with Aaron Spelling for ‘90210‘ and Elizabeth, I didn‘t know it was going to be ‘Showgirls,‘ wanted to do movies. So we didn‘t re-sign them because we couldn‘t re-sign them.”

Can you imagine only having four seasons of Bayside High hijinks? It pains me to think about it!

NBC clearly agreed, asking the producers for one more season despite bids for bigger opportunities luring Thiessen and Berkley away. This fateful network request tossed the future of the show into uncertainty.

Thiessen and Berkley Had Moved to Other Projects

While renegotiating contracts for a surprise fifth season, Thiessen and Berkley had already set their sights beyond Bayside‘s halls.

Tiffani Thiessen was fielding an offer from Aaron Spelling himself to join teen soap opera juggernaut Beverly Hills 90210. As much as I wanted Kelly Kapowski to be my guide forever, I can‘t blame Tiffani for leaping at a chance to play bad girl Valerie Malone instead.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Berkley decided to graduate from squeaky clean Jessie Spano to risqué Hollywood starlet, with her eyes set on the lead role in the controversial movie Showgirls. Yikes! I admire her go-for-broke attitude, but that NC-17 trainwreck makes me yearn for more workbook-ripping caffeine pill freakouts.

With Thiessen and Berkley newly committed to these outside gigs, there was no bringing them back into the Saved by the Bell fold…even as the show desperately needed them.

Attempting to Replace the Irreplaceable

The writers scrambled to account for Jessie and Kelly‘s abrupt disappearance, bringing in leather jacket-wearing rebel girl Tori Scott (played by Leanna Creel). She was no Kelly or Jessie though!

As TV Guide put it, "Tori always looked more like an intruder than a new member of the gang.” Too true! The charm was gone, despite Tori‘s edgy, combative attitude adding some fire to senior year.

The Tiffani-and-Elizabeth-sized hole in the show only grew more gaping as Tori took over with little explanation:

Jessie and Kelly disappear and are never mentioned again as Tori arrives without warning (No goodbye for series regulars Jessie and Kelly who we had known for four years? Not cool!). Tori keeps talking about her old school and old friends from her previous school, which highlights the weirdness of her just showing up at Bayside in senior year and acting like she owns the place.

We superfans could feel it, and the ratings plummeted. Saved by the Bell tumbled from a top 10 show during the Kelly/Jessie years down to #67 by Season 5’s end.

Yikes – talk about a plunge! Kelly and Jessie may have graduated, but fans certainly flunked Tori as their replacement.

Zack and the Gang Handle It…Poorly

Without his beloved Kelly around, Zack seemed, frankly, depressed. And can you blame him? Zack and Kelly were the ultimate will they-won‘t they TV couple! Losing Tiffani Thiessen‘s winning smile was bad enough, but then Zack had to suffer seeing hunky homewrecker Jeff take over as the football team‘s quarterback and date Kelly look-alike Stacy Carosi!

Even eternal optimist Zack Morris couldn‘t put a happy spin on losing his dream girl:

Zack: “I can’t believe it. You know, when I left her in Washington, I never thought I’d have to live without her.”

Awww, my ‘90s teen heart breaks all over again! Zack wasn‘t the only one thrown off-course. Slater moped over Jessie, accidentally calling Tori by her name multiple times. Their romantic rival dynamic fizzled minus Jessie there to come between them.

No offense to Tori, but she just couldn‘t measure up as "one of the gang."

Lasting Impact on the Saved by the Bell Legacy

Jessie and Kelly‘s unexplained departure left a hole not just in Season 5 but in the entire show‘s legacy. Multiple reboots and reunion specials couldn‘t resist addressing the pink elephant…er, yellow school bus in the room.

The ill-fated The New Class revival annoyingly teased but never delivered a Kelly return. Mega-fan Jimmy Fallon even confronted Thiessen about Kelly‘s absence when she guested on Late Night. "The fans were so bummed! We were heartbroken!” he gushed, speaking for all of us.

We finally (sort of) got closure in 2020 with Peacock’s sequel series bringing Zack and Kelly back together as parents (with Jessie sadly still MIA). But no reunion can entirely heal the disappointment of Jessie and Kelly‘s disappearing act at Bayside’s peak, leaving the gang and fans utterly adrift.

As Fallon summed up our collective heartache: “That was the most depressing year for all of us.” Too true, Jimmy. Too true.

Thanks for joining me on this nostalgic walk down Bayside’s hallowed halls revisiting the sad saga of Kelly and Jessie’s disappearance from Saved by the Bell. What are your favorite memories of the fabulous Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley from the show’s golden years? Share your nostalgia in the comments!