Screech Aka Dustin Diamond Was Absent From the ‘Saved by the Bell’ Reboot Trailer
Jan. 15 2021, Updated 10:34 a.m. ET
Millennials rejoice! The new Saved by the Bell trailer dropped and it features all your favorites. NBC’s streaming platform Peacock finally released the full-length trailer for the highly anticipated 90s show reboot, which is planned to premiere on Nov. 25.
The trailer is filled with tons of throwbacks to the old show, including tons of familiar faces from Bayside High. However, there is one character who seems to be missing. Dustin Diamond’s legendary nerdy character Samuel “Screech” Powers is nowhere to be found.
The original 'Saved by the Bell' series was a surprising hit.
With pretty much every single show from the 80s, 90s, and early 00s getting in on every millennial’s love for nostalgia, Saved by the Bell has been no different. The original Saved by the Bell first debuted back in 1989 and became an unexpected hit.
The show ran with the original cast until 1992 and followed with two spinoff series — Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class. The show also created a couple made-for-TV movies including Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.
*Most* of the original cast of 'Saved by the Bell' is back for the reboot.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is coming back to reprise his role as lead protagonist and dream boat Zack Morris. Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez are also reprising their roles as Jessie Spano and A.C. Slater. Tiffani Thiessen will also appear in the series as Kelly Kapowski. The show will also feature new characters like Zach’s son played by Mitchell Hoog.
Despite the excitement of most of the cast coming back, it’s hard to ignore that one of the most major pieces of the Saved by the Bell magic will not be part of the reboot. Dustin Diamond will not be reprising his role as Screech.
Dustin Diamond spoke out about his snub from the 'Saved by the Bell' reboot.
Dustin Diamond told TMZ that no one reached out to him about reprising his role in the Saved by the Bell reboot. “Out of all the cast members, I was in… the most [episodes], and that’s not the case anymore if I’m not in the new one,” he said. “And how do you have Saved by the Bell without Screech, right? … We should all be a part of this.”
He then went on to express his idea for what Screech would be up to in the reboot. “Screech should be dealing with parenthood and dealing with his kids, and finding out that… maybe he wasn’t a barrel full of roses to deal with growing up.”
Dustin Diamond's past could be the reason he’s excluded from the reboot.
After his time working on many installments and versions of Saved by the Bell, Dustin Diamond had quite the rollercoaster of a life. In 2009, he published a tell-all book titled Behind the Bell, which included personal details about his co-stars hooking up and using drugs while on set of the NBC sitcom.
Dustin Diamond also had a history with the law. In 2015, Dustin was sentenced to four months in prison for stabbing a man in a Wisconsin bar. He served three months' time and was released on probation. When he was later found to be in violation of his parole, he was thrown back in jail for an additional two days. Not to mention in 2006, he released a sex tape entitled Screeched: Saved by the Smell.
The new Saved by the Bell (without Screech) premieres Nov. 25 on Peacock.