Dustin Diamond was working on a Saved by the Bell-related project before his death. The Screech actor passed away at the age of 44 earlier this week after a short battle with advanced lung cancer. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen, and Mario Lopez all posted tributes to Diamond on social media, with Gosselaar stating, "Looking back at our time working together, I will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce." As it turns out, Diamond was working with some of those aforementioned "brilliant sparks" on a new project with Screech's iconic robot, Kevin.

Kevin, is a creation of Samuel "Screech" Powers. The robot has artificial intelligence and lived in Screech's room. The robot helped tutor Tiffani Thiessen's Kelly Kapowski when she was failing science class, was Screech's assistant during the magic show he performed during the Miss Bayside Pageant, and was also Screech's assistant when he was made hall monitor at Bayside. The character had always been a favorite of Saved by the Bell fans, which Dustin Diamond was well aware of.

Before his death, Dustin Diamond was working with his friend Dan Block of Insurance King on a set of new commercials. Diamond and Block had previously worked together in the past, but this time they were building a full recreation of Kevin the A.I. robot that Screech created. Sadly, Diamond passed away before the new version of Kevin was completed. However, Block says that Kevin is almost finished and he plans on handing it over to the Saved by the Bell reboot showrunners for possible inclusion in future episodes.

In November 2020, Dustin Diamond was reportedly in negotiations to return for the Saved by the Bell reboot, which features the rest of the original cast. Diamond was originally left out of the series, which didn't sit well with him. "He was upset that he wasn't asked to be a part of the reboot, but he talked to one of the executive producers about possibly coming to appear on the second season and he was happy about that," the actor's longtime manager, Roger Paul said earlier this week. Now, it looks like season 2 could have a pretty nice tribute to Screech and Diamond, should they choose to utilize the new Kevin robot.

In the years after Saved by the Bell, Dustin Diamond wanted to get away from the Screech character. Roger Paul says that Diamond later learned to embrace his legacy. "He played such an iconic character and he just became pigeonholed for that. He wanted to play different kinds of characters but he couldn't break through. It was tough," says Paul. "He fought it, but then he learned to embrace his character. He realized how important Screech was to so many kids," Paul continues. "And he helped so many kids who were bullied over the years, helped them use humor." Hopefully we'll see the new version of Kevin the robot in the Saved by the Bell reboot's season 2. TMZ was the first to report on Dustin Diamond's Kevin project. You can see some footage of the new Kevin above.