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NEED TO KNOW
- Tori Spelling is sharing why Hilary Swank was let go from her role on Beverly Hills, 90210
- It was the writing, said Spelling, that led audiences not to like Swank’s character — not Swank’s acting
- Swank, 51, played Carly Reynolds — a principal character in the show’s eighth season who was written out after 16 episodes
Tori Spelling is opening up about why she believes Hilary Swank was fired from her stint on Beverly Hills, 90210.
Swank, 51, played Carly Reynolds — a principal character in the show’s eighth season who was written out after 16 episodes.
Speaking to Jennie Garth in the Friday, Nov. 21 episode of their 90210MG podcast, Spelling, 52, said Swank was “signed on as a full-time cast member.”
Spelling added that she believed it wasn’t Swank’s acting, but the show’s writing, that didn’t propel the character forward.
“I didn’t think the writing was great in this episode,” she said, speaking about the first episode of season 8.
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Garth, 52, added, “No, no, I didn’t, either.”
Podcast producer Amy echoed the sentiment, saying that she had long thought that “Hillary Swank was not good” in the show. But she added that rewatching the episodes made her view the situation differently: “It’s not that she wasn’t good. She actually is good. It’s that they wrote her so ridiculously. Like, she comes in hot. She’s kind of awful from the start.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Amy noted that Swank being let go from 90210 wound up working in her favor — as she would go on to land her Oscar-winning lead role in Boys Don’t Cry.
“Because she gets let go from this show early, and that’s why she got Boys Don’t Cry, because she was free to audition,” she said in the podcast.
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Swank opened up about being written off the show in a 2024 interview with Guy Raz, saying she felt “discouraged because I thought, ‘Wow, I’m not good enough to be on this show that’s way past the heyday with Luke Perry and all the hype.’ ”
“But I think the funny thing is… it was a beautiful reminder that fate doesn’t work in such mysterious ways,” she added. “And if you trust — really trust — what’s happening when one door closes…I got Boys Don’t Cry two months later.”
