A reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is in the works. The original ran for six seasons, from 1990 to 1996, on NBC. It helped turn Will Smith into a household name and, decades after airing its last episode, the sitcom is still highly regarded and frequently discussed.
The reboot began as a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fan trailer that quickly went viral when it was ed to YouTube in March 2019, earning 3.5 million views by the following month. With the simple title of Bel-Air, the trailer flips the premise of Fresh Prince by presenting it as a serious drama rather than a sitcom. Bel-Air, which was created and directed by Fresh Prince superfan Morgan Cooper, caught the attention of Smith. The actor referred to Morgan’s idea as “brilliant,” appreciating the originality of Cooper’s vision. Reports subsequently followed that Westbrook Studios, Smith’s production company, was working on a project related to Fresh Prince. That project has turned out to be a reboot of the original series.
THR now reports that Bel-Air is becoming a television series. Currently being shopped to streamers - including Netflix, HBO Max, and Peacock - the series is described as a dramatic reimagining of the original NBC comedy that would presumably take its cues from the viral YouTube video. Cooper is set to co-write the script, direct, and produce the reboot. Chris Collins, who penned several episodes of The Wire and Sons of Anarchy, in addition to writing the screenplay for John Wick 3, will serve as showrunner.
The reboot will have a strong connection to the original series behind the scenes, as Smith, Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, and co-creators Andy & Susan Borowitz are all set to return in their roles as executive producers. In front of the camera, however, Bel-Air distinguishes itself from the plethora of other recent reboots in how it diverges from its origins. Rather than tread familiar ground by changing some aspects, albeit still offering fundamentally the same idea, Bel-Air aims to look at the comedy’s famous premise through a somewhat harsher lens.
While it’s true that Fresh Prince didn’t shy away from delving into difficult questions of race and class, it tended to follow in the spirit of other sitcoms by generally ensuring a lesson was learned by the end of an episode. By taking a different approach, Bel-Air is embracing a potentially risky move which could alienate fans of Fresh Prince. But there’s also the promise that the reboot will be able to stand on its own, ultimately succeeding in its efforts to provide a distinct and entertaining perspective.
It’s worth noting, as well, that Cooper’s original trailer for Bel-Air was hardly all gloom and doom. The video begins on a dark note, and it highlights how Will and Carlton have some serious animosity, but the overall tone is immensely hopeful. There’s plenty about Bel-Air that has yet to be confirmed, including whether the characters will all have the same names as they did in the original, but the news is likely to be received with intrigue by fans of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The fact that Smith saw the trailer, lauded it, and worked to turn it into a larger project, is an indication that the actor believes his indelible comedy series has the potential to thrive in a more dramatic package.
Source: THR
