Jason Priestley, the man who played Brandon Walsh for over a decade on Beverly Hills 90210, is returning to the zip code he helped make famous.  Priestley, to the disappointment of fans, however, will not be appearing in front of the camera.  Instead, he'll work behind it.  EW's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Priestley and The CW have come to an agreement for Priestley to direct an episode of the 90210 re-boot.  In addition, Ausiello is reporting that Shannen Doherty is in negotiations to return to 90210 as Brenda Walsh for an additional two episodes later this season.  Priestley will most likely direct this season's eighteenth episode of 90210. 

Priestley has directed a fair amount of TV before, including episodes of 7th Heaven, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and over a dozen episodes of the original Beverly Hills 90210.  He knows what he's doing.  Fans of the original might prefer Priestley to return to the series in the guise of Brandon Walsh, though that's not out of the realm of possibilities just yet.  The CW clearly is trying to lure Luke Perry back to the show as Dylan McKay.  If they eventually get him to return, then the dominoes may start falling and pave the way for a Brandon return.

What 90210 has to do, if it wants more of their original cast members to return, is focus on creating a really good show.  I think they're on their way to doing just that.  They haven't hit their ceiling yet, but 90210 has been steadily improving over its first two months of existence.  The fact that Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty returned without embarrassing themselves should be a good indicator for Priestley and Perry that it's not going to necessarily hurt their careers if they decide to come back to Beverly Hills for a couple episodes.  Garth and Doherty actually came away from their early season appearances quite dignified. 


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: E! Online, EW
(Image Courtesy of FOX)