The Saved By The Bell reboot has finally found its lead in transgender actress Josie Totah, who you may remember from Mindy Kaling’s Champions or Glee.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Totah will star as Lexi, “A beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students.”
Totah came out as transgender in a moving essay for Time where she wrote, “I’m grateful for roles I’ve gotten to play on shows like Champions, and I know I’m lucky to be able to do what I love. But I also feel like I let myself be shoved into a box: ‘J.J. Totah, gay boy.'”
She added that her identity had always been assumed as a “gay man”, and that she would halfway correct them by saying she identified as LGBTQ, saying, “I wasn’t ready to be more specific. I was afraid I wouldn’t be accepted.”
Totah added, “I realized over the past few years that hiding my true self is not healthy. I know now, more than ever, that I’m finally ready to take this step toward becoming myself. I’m ready to be free. So, listen up y’all: You can jump on or jump off. Either way this is where I’m heading.”
Thankfully Totah’s mother was immediately very supportive and three days after their conversation they were at the doctor who then referred them to a specialist who put her on a hormone blocker.
She finished the essay by writing, “I plan to play roles I haven’t had the opportunity to play. And I can only imagine how much more fun it’s going to be to play someone who shares my identity, rather than having to contort myself to play a boy. I’m going to gun for those roles, be it a transgender female or a cisgender female.”
If you watched Totah in Champions, you’ll already know that she will absolutely nail the role of Lexi – the girl is so talented!
The reboot of Saved By The Bell will also feature stars of the original show Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley and Mark Gosselaar.
THR describes the show as a “single-camera comedy that explores what happens when California Gov. Zack Morris (Mark Gosselaar’s role) gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools and proposes the affected students be sent to the highest-performing schools in the state — including Bayside High”.
The show will appear on NBC’s streaming service Peacock, we just hope it’ll end up on an Australian streaming service as well, because, with Totah as the lead, this show will be funny AF.