According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peacock has decided to push back the premiere date for their forthcoming reboot of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which is inspired by Morgan Cooper’s viral video that reimagines the iconic sitcom as a modern-day drama. The streamer had initially planned to release Bel-Air this year but has now opted to delay the project’s debut to 2022 due to pre-production setbacks.
The outlet notes that the delay was caused by the back-to-back exits of two showrunners. Original showrunner Chris Collins (The Man in the High Castle) officially departed from the series last December, due to creative differences. He was then replaced by Diane Houston (Empire) earlier this year, who has also recently exited the project due to unknown reasons. Because of this, Peacock has enlisted scribes T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson to take over as the new showrunners for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot.
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The new series, entitled Bel-Air is described as “a serialized one-hour dramatic spin in the modern-day that will follow the original premise of Will’s journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the titular gated community. It is set to dive deeper into the conflicts, emotions, and biases the comedic sitcom were only briefly able to explore or were unable to touch upon in its 30-minute format.”
The reboot will be co-written and directed by Morgan Cooper, who is also set as an executive producer. It will be executive produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith through their Westbrook Studio banner along with original creators Andy and Susan Borowitz. It is a co-production between Westbrook Studios and Universal Television, which owns the copyright to the original series.
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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran on-air for six seasons from 1990-1996 on NBC. It notably launched Smith’s acting career after debuting as a hip-hop artist in 1985. The iconic sitcom centered around a teenager from West Philadelphia, who after getting into a fight was sent to California to live with his rich uncle and aunt in their Bel Air mansion.
