Jennie Garth has apologized to former Beverly Hills, 90210 costar Dalton James for her role in his departure from the classic 1990s series.
“I didn’t really look at how [that situation] impacted you or your future,” Garth, 52, admitted to James during the Monday, March 9, episode of her podcast “90210MG.”
James, 53, enjoyed a short stint on 90210 in the show’s seventh season as Mark Reese, a coworker of Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and a potential love interest for Garth’s character Kelly Taylor. While James was personally selected for the role by 90210 executive producer Aaron Spelling and contracted for a full season, the character was abruptly written out after only 12 episodes.
Garth told podcast listeners in her latest episode that she hoped to have a “really open, honest conversation” with James about the events that led up to his premature Beverly Hills, 90210 exit.
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“There are things out there that talk about why your character didn’t continue forward on the show,” she told him. “We’ve heard a couple of different takes on how that went down.”
For his part, James remembered being pulled aside by an unnamed 90210 producer without warning and told the show would be going “a different way” without his character Mark.
“I was pretty bummed about it, to be honest. But you know, hey, life is hard for all of us,” he explained, before adding: “We were all young … and you know, it was a great job. It was a great opportunity and I made some great money.”
Garth acknowledged that she went to 90210 producers to complain that “the chemistry between these characters isn’t working out” shortly before James exited the show.
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“When you’re young like that, you don’t really look at things objectively from different perspectives,” she said. “I just, I’m glad to hear you say that you don’t harbor feelings about it, because I would hate that.”
James noted that this career upheaval came during a difficult time in his life — he’d just become a new father and was struggling with depression. However, the actor assured Garth that he held no “ill feelings” towards her for the way his 90210 stint ended.
As she wrapped up the interview, Garth told James: “I was nervous about [this conversation] and just wondering, like where you had landed with all of that after all these years, and if talking about it brought back stuff. But I’m sorry for my part in whatever happened, if that had a negative effect on you in any way.”
“That’s awesome,” James assured her. “Thank you, and I’m sorry as well for my part. I’m pretty shocked that you’re talking to me about [the situation]. I think that’s really cool of you. God is smiling at you.”
James continued acting after leaving Beverly Hills, 90210, most notably playing Hank Bennett on NBC’s 2000s daytime soap Passions. Before joining 90210, James had a memorable role in the final episode of MacGyver – as the long-lost son of the title character – and played the romantic lead in Katherine Heigl’s 1994 comedy My Father the Hero.
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Garth recently made headlines for an appearance at a ’90s Con panel where she said she regretted returning as Kelly for The CW’s 90210 reboot in 2008. The CW incarnation mostly focused on a young cast of new characters, but Garth was brought back to bridge the gap between both eras.
“I wish I hadn’t done it. No offense to them,” she confessed. “The producer was a friend of a friend, and I remember he came over in my living room, sat me down, [billed it as] this chance of a lifetime … He asked me to do it and I didn’t know how to say no then. But the people were very nice and all the best to them.”
90210MG releases new episodes each Monday on iHeartPodcasts.
