The ‘Fresh Prince’ reboot nobody asked for: Everything to know
This is a story all about how Fresh Prince is getting flipped & turned upside down. Let’s take a second and just sit right there – then read all about the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting a dramatic refresh on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service. Peacock, which launched in July, is looking to add exciting new content to compete with the other streaming services. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming reboot of this classic 90s sitcom.
Fresh Prince gets dramatic
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a great comedy from the 90s starring future superstar Will Smith. In 2019, a parody trailer went viral in which The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was depicted as a serious drama.
Morgan Cooper, who developed the parody trailer, will be attached to Bel-Air as director, cowriter, and co-executive producer. Also attached as the writer, showrunner, and co-executive producer is Chris Collins, who served as a cowriter for Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle.
Peacock describes Bel-Air as a “serialized one-hour dramatic analogue of the 90s sitcom” and will dive deeper into the premise of the series. Bel-Air will explore more of the “inherent conflicts, emotions and biases that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format,” but Bel-Air will still deliver those special moments from the original series that fans love.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot has already been greenlit for two season, a move unprecedented for a new series, especially for an experimental reboot of a popular classic TV show.
Will Smith? Attached
The “Fresh Prince” himself, Smith will serve as an executive producer for the reboot. Smith made the initial announcement about the reboot series and its first two seasons on his YouTube channel, expressing excitement about Bel-Air.
“I’ve been in this business for 30 years, and that does not happen,” Smith tells Cooper & Collins in the YouTube video. “They ordered two full seasons of Bel-Air based on the quality of the pitch and the work that you guys have done. So I want to say congratulations. I am hyped.”
The idea of a dramatic reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air makes many fans skeptical, but Smith’s enthusiasm for this reboot should be a sign of good things to come.
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Reboots of nostalgic TV and movies are very popular right now as producers’ and platforms’ risk appetite plunges even further, so The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air getting a reboot isn’t too surprising. A dramatic version of the show is an unorthodox choice, to say the least, but the trailer does have promise . . . although a dramatic version of Carlton’s dance would be super awkward.
