'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' Reunion Special Headed To HBO Max
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air team is getting back together for HBO Max. A Fresh Prince reunion special featuring Will Smith and other members of the cast will gather in September to record the special, which will "feature music, dancing and some surprise guests." The special will then air on HBO Max in time for Thanksgiving.THR says a Fresh Prince reunion will head to HBO Max sometime around Thanksgiving after filming on September 10, the 30th anniversary of the show's NBC debut. The reunion will feature Will Smith, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid and Alfonso Ribeiro, and DJ Jazzy Jeff, with "special guests" to be announced.
HBO Max is also putting together a Friends reunion special and a reunion of the cast of The West Wing, so you can probably expect this to become a recurring thing on the streaming service in the future. The West Wing reunion will air sometime before the presidential election in November. The Friends reunion has been delayed due to the coronavirus, so it's unclear when we might see that.
Created by Andy and Susan Borowitz, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuted on NBC in 1990. At the time, Will Smith was known for his music career, performing under the name The Fresh Prince. The show was developed around Smith, with Smith playing a fictionalized version of himself, who moves from the mean streets of West Philadelphia to the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air to live with his extended family. Smith had never really acted before the series, but The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would go on to make him an even bigger star, eventually leading to movie roles. The series ended in 1996 after 148 episodes.
Smith's Westbrook Media is producing the reunion special, and recently, they signed on to produce a dramatic reboot of the series, inspired by a viral video from Morgan Cooper that reimagined the original series a drama. It's currently being shopped to streamers, with Peacock, Netflix, and HBO Max among those bidding on the potential series, but based on this reunion special news, don't be surprised if HBO Max wins out in the end. HBO Max is also the exclusive SVOD home of the original series.