Shannen Doherty is "really glad" she agreed to appear in the ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ reboot to honour her late co-star Luke Perry.
The 48-year-old actress originally wasn’t going to star in the show’s reunion, ‘BH90210’, but had a change of heart when Luke tragically passed away in March this year at the age of 52 after suffering a stroke, because she wanted to "honour him".
Now, Shannen – who plays Brenda Walsh in the series – has admitted Luke’s passing "drastically changed" her position on appearing in the reboot, and ultimately she is "glad" she agreed to return.
Speaking at the 2019 Television Critics Association summer press tour on Wednesday (07.08.19), she said: "These guys know, I definitely wasn’t going to do it. Nothing against the show, I knew that the show would get sold and do well with or without me. They didn’t need me, so it just wasn’t at that moment what I wanted to be doing. And when Luke passed away, things drastically changed for me and I thought it was a great opportunity to sort of honour him.
"I’m really glad I made that decision because now I get to sit up here with a lot of people that I respect and that I love and we went on this amazing journey together where we got to sort of heal through losing somebody who means the world to all of us."
Shannen will also be appearing in ‘Riverdale’ – which Luke starred in as Fred Andrews – and has said she found the experience "cathartic".
She added: "It was extremely hard in the sense of the emotions, but I feel really proud and honoured, and extremely humbled, that they asked me and that I got to be a part of it. I spoke to certain family members and they were behind it, Luke’s manager Steve was very supportive, so I sort of went into it knowing that I was being supported by everybody that really mattered to Luke and knowing it was a show that he had been trying to get me on since day one. So, it sort of was like this really beautiful moment and that cast loves him – loves, loves, loves him. It was cathartic in a lot of ways and very, very hard and emotional."
‘BH90210’ premieres on Wednesday (07.08.19) night, while ‘Riverdale’ returns on October 9.
Shannen Doherty ‘glad’ she returned to Beverly Hills 90210 for Luke Perry tribute
