Almost the whole family! During Peacock’s Saved by the Bell revival, most of the original cast appeared in the eighth episode of the first season — but Dustin Diamond‘s Screech Powers was nowhere to be seen.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar‘s Zack Morris, Tiffani Thiessen‘s Kelly Kapowski, Elizabeth Berkley‘s Jessie Spano and Mario Lopez‘s A.C. Slater physically reunited at the Max, while Lark Voorhies‘ Lisa Turtle made a cameo via FaceTime as a fashion designer who now lives in Paris. So, where was Screech?
“Screech is so lucky he and Kevin get to live on the International Space Station so he doesn’t have to deal with all this,” Slater tells Jessie during the homecoming weekend episode.
In case you missed it, Kevin is one of the many Easter eggs dropped throughout the new series, alluding to the original show, which aired from 1986 to 1993. Kevin is the sassy robot built and programmed by Screech. So, it sounds like now they’re both astronauts now.
“We talk about Screech’s character and there are little Easter eggs throughout the show of what he’s doing now, and you can find some if you look for them,” showrunner Tracey Wigfield teased to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. “And this season, he wasn’t tied to any of the new characters or anything. But that’s not to say it’s not open for the future, not knowing what stories will be or anything for a cameo maybe.”
While the rest of the cast has stayed in touch through the years, Diamond, 43, has dealt with multiple legal troubles and many of the original actors haven’t spoken to him since the series wrapped.
“1994?” Gosselaar, 46, said in January 2019 about when he last spoke to his former TV BFF. “It’s the truth! I mean, I’m not making anything up.”
Berkley, 48, echoed the sentiments during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen this month.
“I haven’t talked to him in a long time,” the Showgirls star said. “Honestly, since I think we finished the show is the last time I actually spoke to him, but not because of anything bad. I mean, he was always nice to me. And he’s had his journey.”
Whitfield, who previously worked as a producer on Great News and 30 Rock, noted she thinks that the show “could go on many seasons,” so there’s a chance for Screech to show up later, but he may be a bit different than fans remember. “I thought about it and I was having a hard time finding, like, the 2020 version of this. … The normal kid who’s good at STEM and everyone respects? Is that what it is? There was nothing that sort.”
All 10 episodes of the new Saved by the Bell are now streaming on Peacock.
