Jennie Garth apologizes to Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star who was suddenly fired from teen drama

Jennie Garth issued an apology to one of her former Beverly Hills, 90210 castmates who had abruptly been let go from the beloved series.

The actress, 52 – who recently broke her silence after late friend Shannen Doherty was omitted from Oscars in memoriam – had a candid discussion with the Dalton James, 53, on Sunday’s episode of the 90210MG podcast. 

James briefly played the role of Mark Reese – the love interest of Garth’s character Kelly Taylor amid the seventh season. However, after only 12 episodes, Dalton was notably let go from the series, despite having a contract for a full season. 

The topic was brought up when Garth – who was also joined by their other co-star Tori Spelling – addressed ‘the elephant in the room. 

‘Let’s just have a really open conversation, because there are things out there that talk about why your character didn’t continue forward on the show,’ Jennie added. 

Dalton had been cast on the teen drama by Tori’s late father Aaron Spelling and said, ‘That was a little scary though. There was a little bit of an intimidation factor going into that show. You were an iconic show, for one, and you were like a family already.’ 

Garth told James that both she and Spelling had heard his departure was due to the ‘chemistry factor’ between herself and the actor. 

‘We’ve heard a couple different takes on how that went down, one of them was the chemistry factor between our characters,’ she expressed. 

‘I’m just curious for you, what that was like. Did you think you were gonna be on for more episodes and it ended sooner than you thought?’ 

James then recalled, ‘Yeah, I did. And I remember when [a producer] brought me in to have a meeting with him and told me they were letting me go. I was pretty bummed about it, to be honest.

‘But, hey, life is hard for all of us. We were all young, for one. I don’t have any ill feelings at all, it was a great job, it was a great opportunity…but I was bummed…I know you and I, I thought we worked together well.’ 

At the time of filming the episodes and his exit, Dalton also shared that he had just become a father and was also battling depression. He then pointed out that both he and Jennie ‘did some great work’ while on the series together. 

‘I’m really glad to hear you say that, because I’ve been seeing the character and then remembering and then hearing from different people how that all happened,’ she replied. 

Garth then shared that she had a conversation with producers about the chemistry between their two characters. 

‘When you’re young like that, you don’t really look at things objectively from different perspectives. 

Jennie recalled telling producers on the show, ‘”I don’t feel like the chemistry between these characters is working out.”‘ 

She told Dalton, ‘I didn’t really look at how that impacted you or your future, and I just I’m glad to hear you say that you don’t harbor feelings about it, because I would hate that.’ 

Upon hearing the news of his abrupt departure from the series, James recalled talking to one of the producers. 

‘And I was like, “What did I do wrong?” ‘That’s the thing I asked him, and he said, “We just decided to go a different way.”‘ 

The What I Like About You actress told James, ‘I’m glad we were able to talk about that. 

‘I wanted to talk to you but I was also nervous about it and just wondering where you had landed with all of that after all these years, and if talking about it brought back stuff.’

Garth then told her former co-star, ‘But I’m sorry for my part in whatever happened, if that had a negative effect on you in any way.’ 

James also apologized and said, ‘That’s awesome, Thank you, and I’m sorry as well for my part’ and added Garth addressing the past situation was ‘really cool’ of her. 

Back in 2010 in a past interview, one of the writers on the series named Larry Mollin also briefly discussed Dalton’s exit. 

Mollin recalled a meeting where it was alleged that James was anti-Semitic – which Larry claimed was a lie in order to prevent writers from resisting his departure. 

He also added, ‘[Jennie] didn’t [complain regularly] and was a tireless and loyal cast member from the get-go to the end.’ 

After Dalton left Beverly Hills, 90210, he went on to star in other projects such as the series Passions and his last credit on IMDB is a 2023 short titled Insurgent. 

Garth later starred in the CW reboot, 90210, which aired on the network from 2008 though 2013. 

Last year during 90s Con in Florida, Jennie expressed her regret in reprising her character of Kelly Taylor, per People. ‘I wish I hadn’t done it. No offense to them.

‘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.’

She further recalled, ‘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.’ 

Tori Spelling soon responded to Jennie’s comments at the time while talking to E! News.

‘The storylines and who the characters are, I feel like the fans have expressed they wished it would’ve gone different ways because those characters are so personal to us.’ 

The star added, ‘I definitely enjoyed my experience. It was a different cast even though we were in it as well once in a while, and Jennie was in it more, but you had to fall in love with that cast as a separate show and not compare it to 90210, the first incarnation.’

Garth and Spelling later played fictionalized versions of themselves alongside other former castmates – such as Brian Austin Green and the later Shannen Doherty – in BH90210, which was canceled after just one season.