It's over 20 years since Mark-Paul Gosselaar played the role of Zack Morris in Saved by the Bell (unless you count the reunion skit the cast did on Jimmy Fallon which we don't) and the former child star has never been further removed from the role that made him famous than he is in his new show, Pitch.
The Fox drama tells the story of the first-ever woman to play for a Major League Baseball team and Gosselaar plays Mike Lawson, the catcher of the team.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar doesn't look like Zack Morris anymore, and we're hyperventilating. https://t.co/hEahRiNAeE pic.twitter.com/fGLY6SDsxc
— E! News (@enews) August 8, 2016
Gosselaar has long since done away with Zach Morris' blonde locks but the beard and the extra weight are new additions that Pitch showrunner Dan Fogelman requested from the actor.
He told EOnline that: "I've been in the industry for a while and I do have something that follows me. Dan was really the first to say I want to break that. I don't want people to recognize you right away…that's the beard…My wife hates it. She says I didn't buy you with a beard. ‘I want the model without the beard,'"
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In fact, Gosselaar's wife is so against the additional facial hair that he jokes it will have a detrimental effect on their relationship.
"We have four children and I think it'll remain at four children, let me put it that way. It's a home-grown contraceptive."
Pitch is set to premiere in the US in September and you can see Mark-Paul in action in the trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0wLCGwYZ3g
