On Monday, the first trailer for the reboot of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air premiered and shows a more dramatic retelling of the iconic, 90s sitcom we’re used to. In other words, no we highly doubt this Carlton will grace us with a dance. And from what we can see, there’s no Jazzy Jeff either.
Bel-Air premieres on Feb. 13 on Peacock.
The reboot is based on Morgan Cooper’s 2019 viral YouTube video which reimagines the Fresh Prince in the present day. Will Smith, who is also the executive producer of the series, saw the video and fall in love with the concept.
“This is the first time that I heard something I was like yo that’s an idea that is brilliant,” Smith told Cooper during a one-on-one interview with him on his YouTube channel. Fast-forward two years later and we have our reboot!
The original storyline will remain the same in which a teenage Will relocates from West Philadelphia to live with his wealthy relatives in California after a brawl on the basketball court.
Cooper, who is the director and another executive producer on Bel-Air, gave the original series its flowers and told Entertainment Weekly the reboot is more of a different perspective on the same character than a retelling of the actual story. For example in the trailer, Uncle Phil is reluctant to let Will stay with them because he fired a gun during his basketball court brawl, which prompted police to come and a West Philly criminal to follow him out to the West Coast for revenge.
“Here’s the story: You came to Bel-Air for a better education, simple,” he tells Will in the trailer.
“You can’t make The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air again,” Cooper told EW. “What they did is beyond words. It’s so legendary [that] you would never try that.”
Jabari Banks will play the new Will Smith. Adrian Holmes and Cassandra Freeman will step in as Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil; Cocoa James and Akira Akbar will play Ashley and Hilary and Olly Sholotan is Carlton.
Watch the trailer below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-_P9DPMuy8]
The original Fresh Prince series ran from 1990-1996 on NBC.
