The coming-of-age drama series “Bel-Air” tells the story of West Philadelphia teenager Will Smith (Jabari Banks). In his school, he excels academically and is the star basketball player with a scholarship to VCU Richmond. However, his life undergoes sudden drastic changes after being arrested with a gun and threatened by a drug dealer. Rightly fearing for his safety, his mother sends him to live with his wealthy sister and her family in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angles.
As Will struggles to fit into his new surroundings, he fears losing those parts of him that make him who he is. “Bel Air” has a lot in common with “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the iconic sitcom that aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996. If you’re wondering if “Bel Air” is a sequel or a reboot of the original show , We have what you need. FRONT SPOILERS.
Is Bel-Air a sequel or a reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
While “Bel-Air” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” belong to fundamentally different genres, we know they are associated with each other. ‘Bel Air’ is developed by Will Smith and Morgan Cooper. “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” is meant to be the fictionalized version of Smith’s life. The Fresh Prince was his stage name as a rapper. He was part of a West Philly-based hip-hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, who also appears as the fictionalized version of himself on the show. The truth is, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was developed by record executive and talent manager Benny Medina and his partner Jeff Pollack using the former’s early life as inspiration.
Medina is originally from East Los Angeles, but later moved to Beverly Hills to stay with her white friend’s wealthy family. While developing the show, Medina and his collaborators transformed the foster family from rich white to rich black for two main reasons. First, there were already a lot of shows with the premise of black characters coming to live with white families. Second, these changes allowed them to delve into black versus black biases and black class differences.
‘Bel-Air’ is not a sequel to ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ but a dramatized story. For a long time, Smith maintained that there would be no reboot of the sitcom. But he saw Cooper’s 2019 fan-made trailer of a dramatized rendition of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” on YouTube and immediately fell in love with it. Smith then interviewed Cooper for his channel. And that ultimately led to “Bel-Air.”
“The Bel-Air Pilot is all the nostalgia you’ll want, but there are parts where you’re going to stand up, clap and hold your mouth,” Smith said in an interview. “It’s such a perfect balance and a reimagining of this world. It’s gonna be like, duh, yeah, sure, there’s a drama version of this story. Of course, that would be great. It’s like you’re in a new place and at home at the same time, and that’s such a hard thing to achieve for Tamal Kundu Morgan Cooper and the team. I can’t wait for people to see it. »
Is Will Smith in Bel-Air?
No, Will Smith is not part of the main cast, at least not in the first season of the series. However, he is heavily involved behind the camera as a developer and executive producer. He was also involved in promoting the reboot. So, even if he does not appear in this season, we cannot exclude this possibility if there are more seasons. It will be wonderful to see Smith make an appearance at some point in the series. On that note, other cast members from the original series may also make an appearance. Tatyana M. Ali, who played Ashley in the first series, revealed in an interview that she loves the concept of the reboot.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “Flip it and make a drama out of it is so dope. I think that’s part of that enduring power of the sitcom – it was based on real things.
Read more: Is Bel-Air based on a true story?