Days before his tragic death, Kobe Bryant was set to cameo in Peacock’s Saved By the Bell reboot, its stars have revealed.
The former American basketball star died in a helicopter crash in January 2020, along with his daughter Giana and seven others.
However, according to Josie Totah and Alycia Pascual-Peña, who played Bayside High students Lexi and Aisha on the shortlived two-season spinoff of the 1984 sitcom of the same name, Bryant was scheduled to make an appearance in the pilot episode.
Speaking on Thursday’s (15 September) episode of their Dare We Say podcast, the two revealed the “wild tidbit” (via Entertainment Weekly).
“I don’t think a lot of people know,” Totah said. “But we were actually supposed to film with Kobe two days after he died.”
She called Bryant’s addition “so surreal”, with Pascual-Peña recalling that the energy on set “shifted greatly” when it came time to shoot the pilot following his death.
“I remember learning that he had passed through one of our best friends Anjelika Washington,” Pascual-Peña said. “She called me specifically because she knew that I’d been talking about it for a month with her – that I was so excited to meet Kobe on set and I can’t believe that he was a fan of the first Saved by the Bell and that he was excited to be on the show.”
Continuing, she said: “It’s really beautiful and eye-opening to see how one person can bring joy to so many people. Some people live their entire lives never seeing the full impact they had on the world until they pass. Thankfully Kobe was given his flowers. That man was so loved and so respected.”
Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, recently won $16m (£13.8m) in her lawsuit against Los Angeles County over graphic photos taken by police and fire officials at the scene of the basketball legend’s fatal helicopter crash.
