The Saved By The Bell revival paid honor to the late Dustin Diamond and his character Samuel “Screech” Powers in the second season premiere. Diamond’s former co-stars Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen, and Lark Voorhies all participated in the tribute.
Deadline gave details of the episode which took place after the events of the Peacock series’ season one finale. Zack Morris (Gosselaar) confirms to A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) that he has lost his re-election bid for governor, but brushed it off saying that worse things had happened that year, referring to Screech’s death. They then discuss possibly going to the thing at The Max.
After a hard time pushing through his grief, A.C. goes to the thing at The Max, which is revealed to be a gathering along with Zack, Jessie Spano (Berkley), Lisa Turtle (Voorhies), and Kelly Morris (Thiessen) where they reminisce about their beloved geeky friend. While they are at the restaurant, Screech’s robot Kevin delivers a round of the newest addition to the menu, Screech’s Spaghetti Burger.
“You know, it’s a little weird but great,” A.C. says speaking of the burger. To which Lisa replies, “Kinda like Screech.”
While it is not explicitly said that Screech has died, it is heavily implied. “We really wanted to be sensitive to strike a chord between the choice about his actual character passing and honoring the legacy of Dustin himself,” Berkley told Entertainment Weekly. “No one could have done that role but him — so incredibly well and with his comedic genius.”
Dustin Diamond passed away earlier this year at the age of 44 from stage four lung cancer. During his hospitalization, his manager had said there were plans to have him reprise his famous role in the second season. Diamond died before that could ever happen.
