‘Saved By The Bell’: Jennie Garth Was Almost Cast As Kelly Kapowski

Jennie Garth was one of the biggest '90s teen stars, starring as Kelly Taylor on '90210', but 'The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Movie' revealed that she could have been another Kelly -- Kelly Kapowski! Say what?! Saved By The Bell was a downright phenomenon, plastering Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Kelly Kapowski's (Tiffani Thiessen) faces everywhere, but turns out, Jennie Garth could have been part of the A-list cast...she auditioned to play Kelly!

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Reading Time: 3 minutes
September 2, 2014 10:15AM EDT
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC/Getty

‘Saved By The Bell’: Jennie Garth Auditioned To Play Kelly Kapowski

Lifetime premiered The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story on September 1, and fans freaked out over a huge casting revelation — Jennie Garth auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski!

Of course, the role ultimately went to Tiffani-Amber Theissen (now known simply as Tiffani Theissen), but viewers were shocked to learned that Jennie didn’t make the cut!

In the scene, casting directors were looking through head shots — which also included Elizabeth Berkley‘s who, of course, ended up being cast as series regular Jessie Spano — and were intrigued by Jennie, but said she was too young. Then entered Tiffani, she blew them away and the rest is history.

Turns out, this is actually not new news. Jennie has spoken about her audition in the past — we’re not sure how reliable this is, but it’s even on the show’s Wikipedia page, and has been public knowledge for quite some time. Regardless, Unauthorized shed light on many unknown Saved By The Bell facts, and this was one of the most surprising to viewers.

Fans Freak Out The Jennie Garth Wasn’t Cast In ‘Saved By The Bell’

Jennie didn’t nab the role, but she was obviously just fine, landing the part of Kelly Taylor in Beverly Hills 90210, which debuted in 1990, just one year after Saved By The Bell.

Still, fans were shocked that Jennie didn’t make the cut.

Fun fact: Brian Austin Green, Jennie’s 90210 costar, also auditioned for the original Saved By The Bell!

HollywoodLifers, were you surprised to learn that Jennie auditioned for Saved By The Bell? Drop a comment below, and let us know if you think she was snubbed!

–Elizabeth Wagmeister

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