Back in 1990, rapper Will Smith starred as “himself” in NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and he quickly became better known as an actor than a rapper. It’s been 19 years since Fresh Prince went off the air, but its iconic theme song still pops in unexpected places.
According to TVLine, Smith is getting ready to produce a brand new incarnation of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air “that puts a new spin on the fish-out-of-water tale while maintaining the spirit of the original series.” Exactly what that “new spin” is hasn’t been worked out yet. This project is still very early in its development. The only thing that is known is that Smith will not be appearing in this series. Instead, Smith will executive produce the show with his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and their prodiction partners James Lassiter, and Caleeb Pinkett through Overbrook Entertainment.
Andy and Susan Borowitz created the original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which followed Smith’s character as he was forced to move to California and live with his uncle, Philip Banks (James Avery), his wife Vivian (Janet Hubert-Whitten), and their children, Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), Hilary (Karyn Parsons), and Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali). Joseph Marcell co-starred as Geoffrey, the Butler, with Jeff “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes making several guest appearances as Will’s best friend, Jazz. Midway through the series’ six season run, Hubert-Whitten was replaced as Aunt Viv by Daphne Maxwell Reid. To this day, Hubert-Whitten still snipes at Smith about that!
NBC has reportedly expressed some interest in the new incarnation of Fresh Prince, but there isn’t a network currently attached to it. Smith and his partners will shop the proposed reboot around once they’ve solidified the take that they are going to use.
What do you think about the proposed Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Isn’t everyone terrified that this will be the new Jaden Smith starring vehicle? Respond in rhyme in the comment section below!
