“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” had such an amazing run during the 90s that when Will Smith and the other members of the popular cast took their final bows, it felt like the story had been told in its entirety. Will reluctantly went to Bel Air under duress from his hood and the direct marching orders of his mother. Uncle Phil became the father he always wanted. He inherited a fabulous mansion, became the basketball star he was destined to be and even after his father showed up, after all those years, Uncle Phil was there to absorb his emotional breakdown, per the norm.
Well, thanks to Morgan Cooper, who’s already created a YouTube short that was released in March 2019 in honor of the transcendent sitcom, “Bel-Air” is on its way to tell a deeper, darker story set in modern times. Cooper’s original reinterpretation currently stands at 7.5 million YouTube views with only two posts.
Cooper explained to Will Smith, who overwhelmingly supports “Bel Air,” that he was driving through and underpass when the idea hit him “like a ton of bricks.” Chris Collins (“The Man in the High Castle,” “The Wire”) will join cooper as a co-writer as well as an executive producer and showrunner. Production duties will be provided by Will and Jada’s Westbrook Studios and Universal Television, while there is an understandable bidding war between several streaming services for the rights to the show. Among them are Netflix, Peacock, HBO Max, Amazon and Apple.
View the trailer and Will Smith’s glowing endorsement below.
