Dustin Diamond to receive special tribute on 'Saved by the Bell' Season 2

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 5/5/21

The late Dustin Diamond didn't participate in Peacock's Saved by the Bell last fall, but he will have a posthumous presence when the revival series releases its second season.

"We're going to have our first table read in about a week or so, but we are planning something special," Mario Lopez told Yahoo Entertainment. "We're ready to start up again in June and I will be in all those episodes."

Diamond passed away Feb. 1 due to small-cell carcinoma. He had been diagnosed with cancer in January. The 44-year-old was beloved for his portrayal of Screech on Saved by the Bell, but he openly struggled immensely in the decades afterward, which he talked about during a 2013 interview with Oprah:

Diamond also gave an interview to Lopez for Extra, where he asked for forgiveness after publishing a tell-all book Behind the Bell that painted a poor picture of his castmates, whom he had become estranged from:

Lopez, of course, captured teens' hearts as A.C. Slater during the original Saved by the Bell's run from 1989-92. There were then spinoffs Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993-94), Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994) and Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993-2000). (Diamond starred in The New Class as Screech for 130 episodes.) Lopez still portrays Slater in Peacock's reboot, only now he is Bayside High's gym teacher.

The premise for the reboot placed Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) as California's governor—yes, he's still with Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen)—who decides to try and improve his political standing by sending kids from a low-income high school to Bayside, where privileged teens, including his own son named Mac (Mitchell Hoog), run the show.

Along with Gosselaar, Lopez and Thiessen, original cast staples Elizabeth Berkley and Lark Voorhies reprised their respective roles as Jessica Spano and Lisa Turtle.

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