Peacock’s Bel-Air has added five new actors to its cast for its upcoming season. Deadline was first to report the news.
The new additions to the cast include Al-Shabazz Jabateh (Prime Day Show, Netflix Dreams), Nicholas Duvernay (Purple Hearts, Perfect Addition), Diandra Lyle (American Woman, Secrets of Sulphur Springs), Justin Cornwell (The Umbrella Academy, The InBetween) and Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly, Good Girls). Respectively, they will portray Hudson, Drew, Erika Baker, Lamarcus Alton, and James Lewis.
Bel-Air first debuted on February 13th, 2022, twenty-six years after the original series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, ended. The Will Smith-led (Men In Black, I Am Legend) show aired from 1990 to 1996 for a total of 148 episodes and received an Emmy nomination. The reboot comes from Westbrook Studios, founded by Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith (Collateral, The Matrix Revolutions), and Universal Television, a subsidary of Universal Studio Group. The show became Peacock’s most streamed original series during its first season.
Bel-Air stars new actor Jabari Banks as protagonist Will Smith, “a street-smart teen whose life is forever transformed when he moves from the streets of West Philadelphia to live with his relatives in one of LA’s wealthiest suburbs,” via IMDB. It is based on a fan-made trailer that was created by Morgan Cooper (Leviation, Room Tone).
According to Deadline, season two sees Will “at a crossroads as a new figure comes into his life who challenges what he’s learned in Bel-Air and competes for control of his influence. He juggles this while navigating his home life with the Banks family and trying to rebuild the trust that was broken at the end of last season. We’ll see Will and Carlton’s brotherhood start to evolve as they grow closer, but still challenge each other about their differences. We’ll also see Hilary evolve as she becomes more of a boss in her influencer world and how that spills over into her relationship with Jazz, and also highlight the relatable struggles around Viv and Phil balancing marriage and family while trying to forge their own career paths and reconnect to the things that are important to them.”
The main cast features Adrian Holmes (Skyscraper, V-Wars) as Uncle Phil, Cassandra Freeman (Inside Man, Luke Cage) as Aunt Viv, Olly Sholotan (Run Hide Fight, Gigi & Nate) as Carlton, Coco Jones (Let It Shine, Vampires vs. the Bronx) as Hillary, Akira Akbar (Captain Marvel, We Can Be Heroes) as Ashley, Jimmy Akingbola (Kate & Kogi, In The Long Run) as Geoffrey, Jordan L. Jones (Snowfall, Rel) as Jazz, and Simone Joy Jones (The Son of No One, Anything’s Possible) as Lisa.
The second installment of Bel-Air will premiere on February 23, exclusively on Peacock. The official trailer is available below.