Jason Priestley has spoken about the decision to let Shannen Doherty go from Beverly Hills, 90210, more than 30 years after she left the show. Jason Priestley, who played Brandon Walsh opposite Doherty’s Brenda Walsh, said her behaviour had become disruptive during the fourth season, and that the cast made the only choice it felt it could with the information it had. He also said that if the cast had known what was happening in her personal life at the time, it might have made a different choice.
Jason Priestley, 57, made the remarks on Pete Ferriero’s The Slice of Life Show podcast, in an episode released on Thursday. He said there was never an issue between him and Doherty personally, and that he loved working with her. He called her a great actress and a great scene partner, and said he has only fond memories of working with her. But he said her behaviour started to get disruptive only in the fourth season, and that she left at the end of that season, which was difficult for everyone involved.
Doherty left the Fox teen drama in 1994 after four seasons, amid reports of tensions behind the scenes. The show ran for six more seasons without her, ending in 2000. Jason Priestley said the decision to let her go was not taken lightly, and that losing her would hurt the show as well as her career. He called Doherty part of the secret sauce that made the show successful, and said the cast knew it would lose that. He also said the decision was scary for the remaining cast, because they knew how much it would affect her life.
Jason Priestley on what the cast did not know
When Ferriero asked whether firing Doherty was the right move, Jason Priestley hesitated. He said it was a tough question, and that given the information the cast had, it made the only choice it could. He then added that if Doherty had been more forthcoming about what was happening in her life at that point, the cast could have made a different choice. Doherty later explained that she had been dealing with a sick father and a violent, drug-addicted husband, and that her marriage to Ashley Hamilton had made it hard for her to get to work on time. She said nobody knew her father was seriously ill or what her husband was doing at home.
Doherty gave her own account of the firing in 2024 on her podcast, Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty, with Priestley as a guest on the episode. She said her marriage was really horrible, and that things happening in the marriage made it very hard for her to consistently be on time for work. She said her husband would get incredibly violent at times, and that it was all consuming for her. She also said she wished someone had warned her directly to get herself together before she was fired, though she conceded she could have been more transparent.
Doherty died on 13 July 2024 at the age of 53, after a years-long battle with breast cancer. Jason Priestley said that looking back, he wishes the cast had shown more compassion. He said the part of the departure that was difficult was not what was going on with her in the fourth season, but the decision to let her go at the end of it. He said the cast knew the decision would affect her life, her career and the show.
Jason Priestley and the end of 90210
Jason Priestley also spoke on the podcast about his own exit from the show. He revealed on Jennie Garth’s 9021OMG podcast last month that he once pleaded with executive producer Aaron Spelling to end the series while it was still popular, because he felt the quality had dropped in the eighth season. He said that season had lots of crazy stuff, with people in comas and twin brothers turning up at hospitals, and that it had started to feel like a daytime drama. Spelling rejected the idea outright, telling him they would pull him off the set in a body bag, and insisting he was never ending the show.
Jason Priestley left at the start of the ninth season instead, in 1998, and his character Brandon Walsh was written out with a move to Washington, D.C., to pursue a career in journalism. He later said he would have stayed if he had known the show would only run for another year and a half. He returned for a brief cameo in the series finale in 2000. Spelling kept producing television until his death in June 2006, aged 83. The original Beverly Hills, 90210 premiered in 1990 and ran for ten seasons.