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Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Drama (!) Reboot in the Works; Will Smith Attached as EP

Will Smith is finally getting serious about rebooting The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — very serious.

Morgan Cooper, whose parody trailer for a dramatic take on The Fresh Prince went viral in March 2019, is teaming up with Smith to turn that short into a full-blown series, TVLine’s sister site Deadline is reporting. Morgan will co-executive produce alongside Smith, as well as direct and co-write the project. (Click here to watch Smith’s honest reaction to Cooper’s trailer.)

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Also returning behind the scenes are original producers Quincy Jones and Benny Medina, as well as original creators Andy and Susan Borowitz. Chris Collins, whose myriad credits include dramatic classics like The Wire and Sons of Anarchy, has reportedly been tapped as showrunner. He will also executive-produce and write the script with Cooper.

The series, a co-production between Universal TV and Smith’s Westbrook Studios, is reportedly being shopped around to various streaming platforms at the moment. There’s reportedly interest from Peacock, Netflix and HBO Max, the latter of which currently houses The Fresh Prince‘s original 148-episode library.

The original Fresh Prince, which made a household name out of Smith, aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996. Talks of a reboot have been going on for years, dating all the way back to TVLine’s 2015 report that Smith was hoping to put a “new spin on the fish-out-of-water tale.”

Hit PLAY on Cooper’s trailer for BEL-AIR below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on this dramatic turn of events.

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