It’s Alright…Cause I’m Saved By The Bell… Reunion! Mark Paul Gosselaar Tiffani Thiessen Mario Lopez

When the cast of Saved by the Bell assembled for this week’s PEOPLE photo shoot and cover story (cover attached), everyone breathed a sigh of relief-including Mario Lopez, who nearly missed the whole thing.

“Everybody knew the 20-year anniversary was coming up,” says Lopez. “This PEOPLE story has been in the works for over a year, long before [late night host] Jimmy Fallon started talking about it. We were all excited about it.”

But Lopez’s work ethic almost prevented the reunion from coming to fruition. “I’m so busy. I was concerned about my schedule,” says Lopez, who in the past year alone has danced on Broadway in A Chorus Line, become the new host of TV’s Extra and written a fitness book, Mario Lopez’s Knockout Fitness. The night before the PEOPLE shoot in Los Angeles he was making a public appearance in Canada, across the country, and arrived on set straight from the airport after a seven-hour flight.