A Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot is officially in development and being shopped to streaming companies including Netflix, HBO Max and Peacocks, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series will be a dramatic reimagining of the hit NBC sitcom, and is based off the viral trailer created by up-and-coming director, Morgan Cooper, last year.
Cooper’s Bel-Air, puts a dramatic spin on the story of Smith’s character’s move from West Philadelphia to the wealthy suburb of Bel-Air, Calif., where he lived with his Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil and cousins, Hilary, Ashley, Carlton and Nicky. The reboot has been in development for over a year and will be an hourlong drama, per THR.
Smith was so impressed with Cooper’s trailer that he flew to Miami to meet him last year. “I saw this trailer that Morgan Cooper hooked up. This is the first time that I’ve heard something and that I was like, ‘Yo, that’s an idea that is brilliant,” he said at the time.
Smith’s Westbrook Studios and Universal TV are behind the series revival. The original producers and creative team of Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, and Andy and Susan Horowitz, have reportedly signed on to executive produce the project.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air starred Smith, Karyn Parsons, James Avery, Alfonso Ribiero, Tatyana M. Ali, and Daphne Maxwell Reid, the latter of whom replaced Janet Hubert as “Aunt Viv.”
The sitcom ran from 1990 until 1996.