First Look: 'Bel-Air' Reboots 'Fresh Prince' Sitcom Classic As Gritty Drama

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the 1990s sitcom that elevated rapper Will Smith to a higher level of stardom, is being rebooted for Comcast’s CMCSA Peacock streaming service, but the format and tone will be significantly different.

What Happened: The new “Bel-Air” series is based on a 2019 fan film by Morgan Cooper, who reconceived the original property of a streetwise Philadelphia youth relocated to a ritzy California environment as a drama rather than a comedy. According to a Deadline report, Cooper will serve as director, co-writer and executive producer on the new series, which will be produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios and Universal Television.

Newcomer Jabari Banks will inherit Smith’s role, and the new series is scheduled for a three-episode launch on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 13, with new episodes released weekly on Peacock, which has a two-season deal for the series.

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Why It Matters: While rebooting popular old vehicles for today’s audiences has become par for the course in films and television, shifting the format of a beloved sitcom into a drama is unusual.

The trailer for “Bel-Air” appears to address racial and socioeconomic issues with a seriousness that mirrors the soul-searching of an American society that was forced to question its commitment to diversity and equity in the aftermath of the often-violent protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in 2020.

"What really clicked in my mind when I saw the trailer that Morgan did [was] the concepts in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reimagined as a drama," said Smith when the project was first announced in November 2020. "A real kid from West Philadelphia modern day, a Black family in Bel-Air, the Carlton character, a Black young Republican ... the heat that would be stirred up by these characters."

Photo: Jabari Banks in “Bel-Air,” courtesy of Peacock.