Jason Priestley Wanted Off ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ So Much He Begged Producer to End the Show

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Jason Priestley will always be associated with “Beverly Hills, 90210,” the mega-hit Fox teen drama that catapulted the Canadian actor to TV stardom.

However, by the time he quit the show early into its ninth season, he’d grown so desperate to exit the show that he begged series creator Aaron Spelling to end the series.

A Crazy Season

Speaking with former co-star Jennie Garth while appearing on her “9021OMG” podcast, Priestley revealed that his insistence at leaving the show scuttled plans for the wedding of their characters, Brandon Walsh and Kelly Taylor.

“I think that was the overall plan,” Priestley explained, via Entertainment Weekly.

However, when he quit the show, his character was written out, moving to the nation’s capital to take a job as a journalist. That, he pointed out, meant that Kelly couldn’t “be married to Brandon if he’s in Washington, D.C.”

As he explained, one big reason behind his desire to leave “90210” was a behind-the-scenes personnel change.

“There was lots of crazy stuff that happened in that eighth season,” Priestley said. “That was John Eisendrath’s first season as our showrunner. John was an exceptionally talented writer, but we did all kinds of crazy [things], people were in comas and people’s twin brothers were coming to the hospital, and it started to feel very daytime-y in a way.”

‘Let’s End This’

By that time, entering his ninth season as Brandon, Priestley felt ready to move on.

“The problem was I just, I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Priestley said. “And I kept talking to [executive producer Aaron Spelling] about it. And I was like, ‘Aaron, man, let’s end this. Let’s go out on top. The show’s great. The numbers are still good. Let’s do this. Let’s call it. Let’s write to the ending that we want to see. And let’s stop the show.’ And Aaron just said, ‘No, what are you talking about? They’re going to pull me off this set in a body bag.’ You know, he was that guy … [he] “just said, ‘Never, I’m never ending the show.’ So I was like, well, I need to leave then. I want to go do other things with my career and in my life.”

That said, had he known the show would have concluded one season later, he might have stuck around — which would have given fans the wedding they wanted.

“It was unfortunate,” Priestley admitted. “If I’d have known the show was only going to go for another year and a half after I left, I would have stayed.”

Looking back, though, Garth had to agree that exiting the show when he did was actually the best decision.

“You were so missed with your presence, because, you know, we didn’t have Brenda or Brandon anymore,” she said.

“So the show just became something else, really, trying to maintain,” Garth noted, recalling the final two seasons felt “willy nilly,” as if there was “no one person in charge.”