After the passing of Dustin Diamond earlier this year, the actor and his iconic character from the show were honored in the season 2 premiere of Peacock's Saved by the Bell. In the original series and its spinoffs, Diamond appeared in every episode as Samuel "Screech" Powers. Thanks to Diamond's unique portrayal, the character became a pop culture icon and was very important to the success of the original Saved by the Bell.

While there were some preliminary plans to bring in Diamond to reprise his role as Screech in season 2, the actor sadly passed away before the cameo could happen. The Saved by the Bell team still wanted to pay tribute to the character and the performer behind the portrayal that made Screech so special. This culminated with a scene featuring the original gang getting back together at The Max to share memories of their late friend, also including a montage of some of Screech's greatest moments from the classic show. You can watch the scene below.

In the clip, Jessie and Slater head to The Max, where they meet with Zack, Kelly, and Lisa (Lark Voorhies). Max introduces the gang to the newest item on the menu at The Max: Screech's spaghetti burgers. They're personally delivered by Screech's robot pal Kevin, who's had a few upgrades since the last time we saw him. Through dialogue, the characters imply that Screech has passed away on the show as Dustin Diamond has in reality, though it's not said how the character died.

The others instead remember the fun times they've had with Screech, with the spaghetti burgers serving as an analogy for Screech's place in the franchise. "You know, it's a little weird, but great," Slater says when taking a bite of a spaghetti burger. Lisa Turtle, Screech's love interest in the classic Saved by the Bell, quickly responded, "Kind of like Screech!" Toasting to Screech with their sandwiches, the characters also refer to the time Screech was struck by lightning and was psychic for a week, along with when he beat Lisa at becoming Miss Bayside.

While all of these other characters appeared in the first season of Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot. He was mentioned by the other characters, and it was said that Screech was stationed aboard the International Space Station along with Kevin. Prior to his death, Dustin Diamond had been campaigning for the series to bring back Screech, and while this did not happen in the first season, showrunner Tracey Wigfield has since said the goal was to include the character's return in season 2.

"At the beginning of this season, we already were coming into writing season 2 [where] obviously Dustin was one thing, but we also were like in a pandemic and in general in the first episode, everyone was feeling the same sense of everyone understands how heavy this last year has been," Wigfield told Variety. "It would have been wrong to not acknowledge that in a real way and to not have our OG characters mourning this character that we'll never get to see again. That, I wanted to put on the screen, but I just wanted to make sure we were being as sensitive as possible. There was a real guy who had people who loved him. You don't want to make any jokes or talk about it in any way that might hurt anyone's feelings."

Rest in peace, Dustin Diamond. It's unfortunate the actor didn't make it to the show, but this touching tribute is a good way to posthumously include him. You can watch the new Saved by the Bell on Peacock.