This Is Why Screech Won’t Be Appearing In the ‘Saved by the Bell’ Reboot
Actor Dustin Diamond isn't on the best terms with his former costars.
With a premiere date set and several trailers live on social media, old and new fans alike are getting psyched for the upcoming Saved by the Bell reboot airing on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock come November 25th. But some have noticed one original character’s absence—is everyone’s favorite class clown, Screech, going to make an appearance?
Screech, played by Dustin Diamond, was a staple of the original 1990s Saved by the Bell sitcom. Though he was often the butt of many jokes, Diamond’s character was loved by his more-popular friends and was an audience fave. Despite Screech’s popularity, it doesn’t seem like Diamond will be joining his former cast mates Elizabeth Berkley, Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessenin, and the most-recent sign-on Lark Voorhies, in the reboot.
How do you have Saved by The Bell without Screech? It seems like there’s a missed opportunity there, Diamond told TMZ in February. I think that everyone should probably be thinking the same thing as far as I’m concerned…If it’s a reboot of the entire series, you should bring back all the staples.
Though it hasn’t been outwardly said why Diamond won’t be involved in the reboot, his history with his former costars isn’t necessarily a good one. In 2009, Diamond published a tell-all book titled Behind the Bell in which he spoke out about the drugs, partying, and cast hookups happening behind-the-scenes to the chagrin of his cast mates, who denied most of the claims made in the book, which was later adapted into a 2014 Lifetime movie.
In 2016, Diamond apologized for the book during an appearance on The Dr. Oz Show, stating that his ghostwriter on the book took advantage of me and the situation I was in at the time.
“I think you’re fantastic, working with you has been just one of the icons of my life and I’m sorry that this has taken advantage of me, the book and other situations I’m sure we’ll talk about here,” Diamond said to his former costars while on The Dr. Oz Show. “But I’m sure that you’ve experienced downfalls, as well, in your time and I’m still loving you guys.”
Diamond also ran into some legal trouble in 2014 when he was sentenced to four months in prison for his involvement in a bar fight, and was later put back in jail in 2016 for a probation violation.
Maybe old wounds will eventually heal between Diamond and his Saved by the Bell costars and we’ll see Screech make a return later in the series. Our fingers are crossed.