Could things have been different for Beverly Hills, 90210? Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling hashed that out on a recent episode of their 90210MG podcast. When they were asked if things could have been handled differently to keep Shannen Doherty from exiting the beloved drama in 1994 amid rumors of drama on set, Tori responded that perhaps a “break” might have changed things. “I wish that Brenda [Walsh, Shannen’s character] would have stayed on the show, definitely, but I don’t know where they were gonna go with her character,” Jennie said on the podcast, via PEOPLE.
“If I’m going to answer as a fan, which is how we go into the show right now, rewatching. Yes, I would have liked it worked out so Brenda could have stayed,” Tori added. “Being in it and on the outside of what was going on at the time, there probably needed to be a break because there was just — the energy you know, she wasn’t happy.”
Tori also claimed that “a lot of people” were unhappy with how things were going on the TV set at the time. “I think it affected everyone and therefore the energy became toxic on set,” Tori recalled. “I’m not saying she made it toxic, just from everything going on. So it did need a break. But yes, if we had taken a breather, and everyone had calmed down and sorted out. It would have been really nice to have Brenda come back.”
Shannen, who is now battling breast cancer, famously stepped away from the show in 1994, with Tiffani Thiessen stepping in to fill the gap as Valerie Malone. Though rumors swirled Shannen had been fired from the iconic teen soap, Shannen herself was on the record at the time claiming she quit.
“I quit,” she told TV Guide at the time, calling it a “mutual decision” between her and legendary showrunner Aaron Spelling. “We backed each other against the wall,” she said. “I feel no sadness. Who wants to get up at 5 a.m. and leave the arms of your husband and go work for 12 hours in a job in which you’re miserable?” At the time, Shannen was married to Ashley Hamilton.