Meet the New Will From the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Reboot
Want to watch someone’s life change in about ten seconds?
The video below features Will Smith, mega-star and the original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, on a Zoom call with Jabari Banks, who was just cast in the Will role on the new Fresh Prince reboot that will premiere soon on Peacock. Only Banks doesn’t know that he got the role, or that he was getting on a call with Smith, who got to break the news, in person (on Zoom, whatever) that he had landed the part.
The contrast between Smith, seated in a beautiful mansion somewhere, and Banks, who literally seems to be taking his call in a closet (been there!) is quite stark.
The new Fresh Prince is titled Bel-Air, and will remake the central conceit of the original show — kid from Philadelphia is sent to live with his wealthy and and uncle in Southern California — as a drama instead of a sitcom. In recent months, the show has replaced its showrunner not once, but twice. Its current producers are T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson. The series was inspired by a viral video by Morgan Cooper that was presented as a trailer for a gritty film version of The Fresh Prince.
While talking to Smith, Banks showed him a picture of a “Fresh Prince Reunion” that he did with his friends in high school. Now he will get to to that on a much more official and professional level. He added “This is a dream come true. You don’t know — I mean, you probably do know, you feel it.” Smith laughed.