We’re finally getting our first look at Peacock’s reimagined Bel-Air. The streamer has released the trailer for the drama starring Jabari Banks as Will.
It follows the same premise as the original, that Will got in trouble in Philadelphia, and moved to Bel-Air to live with his aunt’s family. However, that is where the similarities end. There is no sign of the fun ‘90s comedy that launched Will Smith’s career.
The video shows that Will actually found himself in a huge fight that leads to him ending up in handcuffs, and in the words of Geoffrey “now some bad man from Philly wants to deal with you.”
While the original showed Will immediately fitting in and taking over his new school, it looks like he’ll have a lot more problems acclimating in Bel-Air. The few scenes we see of him and Carlton at school definitely have a CW feel to them. We hope that’s just an overdramatic trailer edit.
Bel-Air is a drama going in a drastically different direction from the colorful sitcom atmosphere of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, something the clip takes great pains to let us know.
It feels like Peacock wants to somehow play to our nostalgia, while simultaneously beating us over the head with the fact this is not that comedy you used to love.
Bel-Air is executive produced by Will Smith, so we know it will honor the best parts of the original, but if you’re looking for a new Fresh Prince, this probably isn’t it.
The series co-stars Adrian Holmes as Philip Banks, Cassandra Freeman as Vivian Banks, Olly Sholotan as Carlton, Coco Jones as Hilary, Akira Akbar as Ashley, Jimmy Akingbola as Geoffrey, Jordan L. Jones as Jazz and Simone Joy Jones as Lisa.
Peacock is certainly pulling out all the stops, premiering the first three episodes of Bel-Air on Sunday, Feb. 13 aka Super Bowl Sunday.
So are you planning to take another trip to Bel-Air or are you sticking with the original?