Alycia Pascual-Peña is ready to make her mark with Peacock’s new Saved by the Bell revival series

Pascual-Peña, who plays high schooler Aisha on the show, said she feels “grateful and blessed” to be a part of the series.

“There are not enough words,” she said to Shadow And Act’s Trey Mangum. “Being a Latina and being a Black Latina, that is something that I never saw. Even when I did see moments of myself on-screen…I saw Black and Latina roles that I wasn’t proud to connect with.”

Pascual-Peña elaborated on why she feels the reboot will help advance Afro-Latinx representation and representation of POC and other marginalized groups in general in the media.

“For so long I think that we’ve had to become accustomed with seeing ourselves that perpetuated stereotypes, that weren’t genuine to our stories and our culture and who we are. I think for so long, we’ve experienced this cultural appropriation and be a commodity in media rather than experiencing genuine diversity,” she continued. “To be on a show that has all of these narratives that are multifaceted and to be an Afro-Latina to spearhead a show, especially a show with already so much notoriety means the world. Representation and genuine diversity and inclusion and being an ally to marginalized communities, like the LGBTQIA+ community, is so important. In everything that I do, I want to uplift the communities that I’m a part of or an ally to. ”

Check out the full interview below:

Season one of the Saved by the Bell revival series is streaming now on Peacock.

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‘Saved By The Bell’: Oscar Winner Matthew A. Cherry To Direct Revival Series Episode

 

Photo: Peacock