‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Drama Reboot in the Works, Will Smith Attached as Executive Producer

A dramatic reboot of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is in the works, Variety has confirmed.

It will be based on Morgan Cooper’s viral video that reimagined the NBC comedy series as a drama titled “Bel-Air.” The trailer, which Cooper posted online last year, has racked up over five million views on YouTube alone. Watch it below.

The project is currently being shopped to multiple outlets, including HBO Max, which is the streaming home of the original series.

Cooper is attached to co-write and direct the project and will also serve as a co-executive producer. Chris Collins will serve as showrunner and executive producer in addition to co-writing the script with Cooper. Smith will executive produce via Westbrook Studios along with Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, and original series creators Andy and Susan Borowitz. Miguel Melendez and Westbrook Studios’ Terence Carter will also executive produce. Westbrook Studios and Universal Television will produce. UTV was the studio behind the original show as well.

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” ran on NBC from 1990 to 1996 for six seasons and just shy of 150 episodes. The show also starred James Avery, Janet Hubert, Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons, Tatyana M. Ali, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and Ross Bagley.

The show catapulted Smith to superstardom as an actor. He went on to a wildly successful movie career that included blockbusters like “Independence Day,” the “Men in Black” and “Bad Boys” franchises, “Ali,” “I, Robot,” and “I Am Legend.” Most recently, Smith starred in the live-action reboot of Disney’s “Aladdin” and re-teamed with Martin Lawrence for a third installment of “Bad Boys.”