Elizabeth Berkley Lauren talks Showgirl homage in Saved by the Bell

Warning: The following contains spoilers from Saved by the Bell's entire second season.

The Saved by the Bell revival gave original star Elizabeth Berkley Lauren an opportunity to revisit another '90s project she's known for: Showgirls.

In the sixth episode of the Peacock comedy's sophomore season, Kelly (Tiffani Thiessen) and Lisa (Lark Voorhies) push Jessie (Berkley Lauren) to approach the fireman checking her out at Bayside High School's career fair. Recently divorced, Jessie doesn't feel confident and sexy enough to flirt, so her friends suggest she channel a time when she felt desirable. Jessie immediately recalls the couple of months she spent in Las Vegas after college.

Of course, this is a reference to the 1995 erotic drama Showgirls, which starred a 21-year-old Berkley Lauren as Nomi, an ambitious Vegas dancer. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the movie was critically panned when it hit theaters and left Berkley Lauren feeling like a "pariah" in Hollywood in the aftermath. In recent years, however, the movie has been reevaluated and transformed into a cult favorite. Despite Showgirls' complicated legacy, Berkley Lauren had no qualms about revisiting it on Saved by the Bell.

"Along the way since the film came out, it's had its own life," Berkley Lauren, who also serves as a producer on Saved by the Bell, tells EW. "It's been embraced in such incredible ways that it has its own legacy. And the way that it exists today in pop culture is different, of course, than when it came out. I just wanted to acknowledge that, I'm aware of that and love how it's been embraced and that's a beautiful thing. That's why right now is a really great time to have some fun with it."

In fact, Saved by the Bell's homage doesn't end with that one offhand reference. Kelly and Lisa give Jessie a makeover, which results in her essentially wearing the same outfit Nomi wore at the end of the movie. From there, a newly confident Jessie does one of Nomi's trademark dance moves and struts toward the fireman, who asks where she's from. "Different places," Jessie responds, quoting one of Nomi's most memorable lines. From there, Jessie tries to seduce him with a pole dance but winds up kicking her potential suitor in the face as she spins around it. This entire interaction leaves her friends wondering what happened exactly in Vegas? Oh so much.

"I shot this on my birthday, July 28," Berkley Lauren recalls. "What a way to have a birthday — to do something this comedic and amazing and a real moment for two roles that I'm primarily known for, coming together in one meta way."

Below, Berkley Lauren opens up about revisiting Showgirls in this way, shares her feelings about Jessie and Slater's (Mario Lopez) kiss in the season 2 finale, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How was the Showgirls homage initially pitched to you?

ELIZABETH BERKLEY LAUREN: [Tracey Wigfield] is an unbelievably collaborative showrunner and strong leader and woman. But at the same time, she is extremely sensitive to all of us cast members. She will often take a temperature check to see how does this feel creatively, personally, artistically. She came to me and said, "Listen, we've tossed something around this season. We have this concept. We want to see how you feel about it. If you obviously don't want to do it, we'll just kill it right here." What was so incredible is when she started to share it with me, Tracey and I had never really talked about Showgirls at all. Or what it meant to me. Or where I stand with it, at this point in my life and career. And it was actually a really fun conversation because I think, with most things, she saw I have a great sense of humor. And my willingness with comedy, in general, is to go for it. In particular with this, the way she presented it, she said, "I'm going to send you some pages, if you're open to it, see how you feel, and if you have tweaks to make, let us know."

From the get-go, it was an invitation to collaborate in a beautiful way. All the way through from the first pages she sent — which were an absolute yes, not even a question — to our first rehearsals, to choosing my choreographer; she's an unbelievable dear friend in my life, but a top choreographer, Jennifer Hamilton, who I also felt that trust with to create some movement that would make sense for this forum. And our writer, Yamara [Taylor], and our director, Katie Locke O'Brien, we just all really got on the same page.

Once it was on the page and in a way that felt right, I then, of course, added some things that I knew specifically and personally that fans would love. Because I really wanted to use this as a way to celebrate the two roles that I've played. There are a million Easter eggs embedded in this new re-imagining of Saved By the Bell. Of course, in this moment, I could not let the Showgirls fans down.

What Easter eggs and nods did you suggest?

First of all, the outfit had to be just right, just the physicality. We start the season off where Jessie herself is in the middle of a life crisis and a divorce. Her life is a bit of a mess. She's trying to find a sense of self again. I think a lot of women who are maybe going through divorce start to try to find themselves again and will relate to what Jessie is going through. But the genius move of all time was that Tracey and the writers came to find that a fun way for Jessie to find her inner strength was a mantra of, what would Nomi do? And so that, that is what birthed this moment. Where would she find that fierceness? Let's say her Sasha Fierce, in a way. Nomi is Jessie's Sasha Fierce. What other genius could come up with that? Because you could do a skit on SNL, which would be really funny, like a send-up almost. But this was such an interesting way to really bring them together.

The first way to do it was the physicality. Our costume designer Mojdeh [Daftary] and I, really went through the film to figure out [which outfit to recreate]. There are so many iconic looks to Nomi that we just said, "You know what? The genius move would be to do the last hitchhiking scene" because that's where she was her most liberated. And it's an iconic look. There's the Versace dress we could have gone for, but I had to do a high kick and that dress doesn't lend itself [to that]. We ended up going with that tiger stripe, bustier, and cowboy hat. We pulled it from a few elements that would immediately let people know right away what Jessie was embodying at that moment. We knew that the visual cue needed to be strong and not just give a suggestion of it, but [convey], "Oh yeah, we're going there."

The makeup and the hair were also really evoked the movie, too.

We put up a board in the hair and makeup room of printouts of all the different options that we could get inspired by. Again, we weren't looking to just make a suggestion of it. It's like, if we're going to go for it, we're going for it. And to show the duality of Jessie earlier in the episode and the way she dresses and the way she carries herself. It was really important to show the juxtaposition of those two.

You mentioned that you and Tracey have never discussed your feelings about the movie. How do you feel about it at this point in your career?

There is this generosity towards the film and celebration of the film among a new generation of creatives, and that is exciting. You don't get to experience that often. That full-circle moment with it. For me, the relationship to it is joyful.

Given this full-circle moment, do you view this as like your final statement on the movie?

No, no, no, no, it wasn't anything like that. No, it's just a part of the moment that I recognized as special. And really getting to use my sense of humor and owning the moment. And celebrating the way in which we got there, this whole team.

Season 2 also referenced Jessie's "I'm so excited" breakdown with her son Jamie, who went through his own caffeine experience in the penultimate episode's dance marathon. Did you and Belmont Cameli discuss that moment beforehand?

You know what, Belmont and I didn't discuss that part. We had so many other wonderful scenes together that we [talked about]. But we had a laugh about it for sure. He, of course, is aware of the now famous, "I'm so excited" moment. I think he was excited to do it. He's so game for anything comedic. He's so talented. And we had some great joy about it. But I love how they beautifully weave in and embed those original things people fell in love with, into, not just what our characters do, but what the kids do.

The season ends with Jessie and Slater making out in the parking lot. How did you feel about that development?

Look, this is 30 years in the making. Mario and I, it's funny, we're really super close friends. He'll say it's like a brother-sister relationship. We definitely had some giggles along the way. And I love, for us personally, the scenes and things that we got to do this season. They brought a certain depth to [their relationship]. It's a single-camera comedy and there's a certain tone to it all. But I think because of the history that we do have from the original show to now, and people who are OG fans and grew up with us being super invested in [the original characters], we don't want to mess with that at all. We're very protective of the grown-up versions. And I love that season 1, they were back in the same workplace and reconnecting in life. I really love how the writers allowed it to play out, too. Just really, you got to see some vulnerable aspects to Slater and, obviously, Jessie as well. But using comedy, which is always the great healer.

Saved by the Bell season 2 is available to stream on Peacock.

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Saved by the Bell's Elizabeth Berkley Lauren unpacks season 2's homage to Showgirls

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