[1] Although Priestley didn't reprise his role as Brandon in the spin-off 90210, he directed the episode where Tori Spelling's character Donna Martin returns to town.
She went to Europe during the summer after her junior year of high school and had a short-lived romance with Rick (played by Dean Cain) and eventually met and almost married Stuart, the son of one of Jim's business partners.
Later, after she ended this relationship, she got the lead role in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and a subsequent spot in a London summer acting program.
Brenda returns to Beverly Hills to star in a play and takes the opportunity to spend time with Kelly after gaining success as a theater actress and stage director in London.
Jennie Garth portrays Kelly Marlene Taylor, the gradual main character who appears throughout the entirety of the series (and the premiere episodes of spin-offs Melrose Place and 90210), maturing from "spoiled teen vixen to grounded 25-year-old.
Throughout the series, he's involved in several scams and reckless activities, from obtaining a school "legacy key" to parties in rented homes, to the creation of the After Dark club in Season 5, to numerous fraternity stunts.
Andrea made a cameo appearance at Donna's bachelorette party, while her daughter, Hannah (played by Hallee Hirsh), was briefly shown on the spin-off 90210.
It took him a long time to get over his father's death and then in Season 4 he met Erica (Noley Thornton), his half-sister, Jack's daughter, and her mother, Suzanne, and Kevin, her fiancé.
His and Donna's relationship went through several breakups and reconciliations, and he had an active romantic life during his college years that included everyone from Claire Arnold to Valerie Malone and many other guest characters.
The club did poorly under his management, and he discovered that he had a mild but dangerous form of depression that his mother suffered from, which he successfully dealt with via therapy and reducing his drinking.
In the Season 2 episode "The Next 50 Years," Scott's fixation with guns ends up accidentally killing him when he spins one on his finger gunslinger-style and it discharges at him during his birthday in front of a horrified David.
Though Jim has a strong sense of morality, he is very committed to his work as an accountant and loyal to his employers—so much that he finds himself at odds with Brandon, who often defends causes important to him, even at the expense of his father's business interests.
She was also seen and talking to a friend (later revealed to be Ginger) over the phone back in Buffalo, about the possibility of getting involved with Steve Sanders for his money, as well as insulting the gang and boasting of her natural-born ability to lie and act more innocent than she actually is.
Later on, Ray became increasingly violent towards Donna, culminating with two ugly incidents when he pushed her against a wall in Oregon and knocked her down a flight of stairs in Palm Springs.
Hilary Swank portrays Carly Reynolds (main, season 8), who was a waitress and single mom who had some unfriendly first meetings with Steve Sanders (getting angry when he tried to help her son from getting pushed around at a soccer game, and later insulting his bimbo date and getting fired in the process).
After this, the IRS then confiscated all of his family's assets (including Noah's yacht, his parents' house, cars, bank accounts and his father's entire life insurance policy) and leaving his widowed mother in destitute.
She ignored Steve's entreaties until they began sleeping together and then turned the Beat into a tabloid, and by later in Season 9 they started seriously dating, even though Janet's conservative Japanese parents cut her off for being with a non-Japanese man.
Daniel Cosgrove portrays Matt Durning (main, season 9–10), an attorney who became the legal go-to guy for various issues with the group, including Valerie's self-defense murder of her molesting father, Noah's drunken driving, and David's statutory rape charge.
He got a weapons charge against her dismissed after she shot and killed the rapist in self-defense, and they drifted apart for a while, until Matt's handling of a death penalty appeal helped bring them back together.
Vanessa Marcil portrays Gina Kincaid (main, season 9–10), a former ice-skating champion with a bad attitude and an unfairly traumatic past who got fired from her ice show position and stayed with her cousin Donna.
The character seemed to bounce between being treated badly by people for valid reasons (Donna due to her fake fling with Noah and later her cruel comments on Kelly's self-defense shooting, the ice show manager she was rude to) and being treated badly for no valid reason (preppy snobs in a bar who insulted her, Oksana Baiul's rude manager, and even Noah when he blamed her for a mistake the bakery made with Donna's birthday cake).
She moved back to San Francisco after reconciling with her parents, thus ending her relationship with Brandon (Like many of the cast, Barron was considerably older than the character she was portraying).
Paul Johansson plays John Sears (recurring, season 4), who is introduced as a student of California University, where he, Steve Sanders, and several others shared a prestigious fraternity, KEG House.
Michael Durrell & Katherine Cannon played John & Felice Martin (recurring, season 2–10), Donna's parents who generally personified wealthy, conservative, social-climbing Beverly Hills socialites and appeared occasionally through the series entire run.
Felice tried to appear moral and strait-laced (she even supported West Beverly's decision to suspend her daughter prior to graduation after Donna got drunk at the prom) but she was often hypocritical: she had an affair that nearly ended her marriage and had to admit that her own insistence in premarital celibacy was a lie because she's gotten pregnant and had an abortion while in college.
During the seventh season, John suffers a stroke, which Donna initially blames on David (who was present because he was getting advice on how to win over Felice), but she realizes that he wasn't responsible.
They both lied about John being Gina Kincaid's real father and covered it up out of embarrassment, only admitting the truth when Donna found out and angrily shamed them into being honest.
John dies of another stroke just as Gina was ready to start bonding with him, which Felice blamed her for, but later accepts her in the family after helping Donna finish the eulogy at his funeral.
Dina Meyer plays Lucinda Nicholson (recurring, season 4), who was a sexually aggressive and married university anthropology professor who became romantically involved with Brandon Walsh—a student at her school.
Dylan's father, Jack McKay (Josh Taylor) had a brief run after being released from prison but was then apparently killed, only to later reappear after secretly being enrolled in the Witness Protection Program.