Beverly Hills, 90210 Cast Explains Why Aaron Spelling Banned This 1 Item from the Show

• Beverly Hills, 90210 castmembers Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering reunited at 90s Con over the weekend to talk about their beloved series
• The cast addressed a rumor that Aaron Spelling banned sunglasses from set and confirmed it was true
• Priestly and Tori Spelling shed light on why Spelling believed so strongly in seeing the actors’ eyes on screen

You might think of Beverly Hills as a sunny place — but Aaron Spelling didn’t necessarily agree.

Beverly Hills, 90210 alumni Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering gathered for a Q&A moderated by PEOPLE’s Breanne L. Heldman at 90s Con at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on Saturday, March 29. And the cast was asked about a rumored rule Aaron, Tori’s father and the prolific TV producer who died in 2006, had for the show: that no one could wear sunglasses on screen.

“That is true,” Priestley, 55, confirmed. “Aaron wanted to be able to see everybody’s eyes because ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul.’ That was one of his favorite sayings.” He checked with Tori for confirmation.

“Literally yeah, always,” Tori, 51, said. Ziering (who celebrated his 61st birthday at the convention) explained that on the show, “It’s very seldom you’ll even see a shot where you don’t see both eyes. Like you’ll never see a three-quarter where you won’t see the other eye. You always see both eyes.” Carteris, 64, noted that Aaron preferred to film most scenes over their shoulders.

But Tori — who hosts the 90210MG rewatch podcast with Garth, 52 — noted that the rule about sunglasses did change over the course of the series. “In later seasons — we’re doing a rewatch of season 7 — there are glasses now.”

During Saturday’s panel, Tori and Green, 51, also noted that their characters, Donna Martin and David Silver, celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year. Tori said, “It’s our silver anniversary! Get it? David and Donna Silver.” 

They also joked that 2008’s revival series 90210 — on which viewers find out that their marriage has hit a rough patch — is not “canon.” Tori said, “It bums me out that they’re saying David and Donna are getting a divorce.” She also regretted that the show never resolved the storyline in either direction.

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Beverly Hills, 90210 ran on Fox from 1990 to 2000 for 10 seasons. The series also starred the late Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty.

During the panel, Garth reflected on how rewarding it has been to watch the show for the podcast. “We were always busy working and we never really sat down to watch an entire episode,” she explained. “And when we were filming we only really saw what our our scenes were.” 

Green said they were so busy that sometimes there were guest stars on set that — if you didn’t have a scene with them — you wouldn’t even know about it until after they left. “So all of a sudden, you get to set, and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, you know, Burt Reynolds was here yesterday,’ ” he said, referencing a season 3 episode the legendary actor appeared in. 

“And it was like, ‘What, how the f— was Burt Reynolds here?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, he wasn’t in your scene.’ And then you see pictures, and it’s like, you lucky bastards, you’re in the Peach Pit with Burt Reynolds.”