Bel-Air Season 4 Finale Surprise Cameo Addressed by Showrunner

Bel-Air showrunner Carla Banks Waddles recently talked about Will Smith‘s cameo in the Season 4 finale. Season 4 of Bel-Air started airing on Peacock on November 24, 2025. The series features a large cast, including Jabari Banks, Cassandra Freeman, Adrian Holmes, Coco Jones, and more.

Carla Banks Waddles details how Will Smith’s cameo in Bel-Air Season 4 finale came to be

Carla Banks Waddles, the showrunner of Bel-Air, recently sat down with Deadline to discuss Will Smith’s cameo in the Season 4 finale.

Bel-Air is a reboot of the hit ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which featured Smith in the lead role. Waddles revealed whether Smith’s cameo in the series finale, “The Next Act,” was planned or not and said, “When we pitched the season out early from the writers’ room, he was a part of it. We were like, ‘This is the season. We want him in the finale, and we know he wants to do the show. We’ve always wanted him on the show, and now’s the time, because there’s no more show after this.'”

However, Waddles shared that the team wasn’t sure about getting the actor due to the timing. So, they had “two endings, even though we knew we wanted him to be in this ending, there were two different versions, just in case.” Talking about the alternate ending, Waddles conveyed that it would’ve focused on Will (Jabari Banks) bidding farewell to LA.

When asked if the moment between Smith and Banks could be labeled as a meeting between future Will and present Will, Waddles said it is “open to interpretation.” She added, “I love for it to be open to interpretation. The cast probably has their own version of what they think it is. But this advice of talking to your future self and having that be a gift of what you see yourself to be, and that it’s all gonna come together.”

Originally reported by Ishita Verma on ComingSoon.