Will Smith is reportedly developing a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air spin-off
Now, this is a story all about how Will Smith is reportedly developing a spin-off to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the 90’s sitcom that made him a household name.
Smith’s digital content studio Westbrook Media is behind the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith launched the company in July to oversee their varied projects including Overbrook Entertainment and Red Table Talk Enterprises, the latter of which is behind Pinkett-Smith’s top-rated Facebook original series.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air launched Smith’s career as an actor, having already gained fame as one half of Grammy-winning rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in the late 1980s. The rapper played a fictional version of himself for six seasons on the NBC comedy series.
As the character Will Smith, he portrayed a West Philly-born teenager who moved to the affluent Southern California neighborhood of Bel-Air to live with his aunt and uncle at the suggestion of his mother to keep him out of trouble. His uncle Phil Banks (James Avery) and Aunt Viv (Janet Hubert-Whitten/Daphne Maxwell Reid) had three children: Hilary (Karyn Parsons), Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), and Ashley (Tatyana Ali) who were mostly humble but used to living an opulence lifestyle, which sometimes hilariously clashed with Will’s working class background.
Benny Medina served as producer of the series, whose life experiences served as inspiration for the popular comedy. No further details were available about the reboot.
EW reached out to representatives for Overbrook Entertainment for comment.
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