‘Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air’ Reboot Changes Showrunners
Peacock’s dramatic reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has changed showrunners. According to The Hollywood Reporter, original showrunner Chris Collins departed the show over a “slightly different creative direction” in December of last year. Collins was then replaced with Diane Houston (Empire) at the beginning of this year, but she too has left the project.
Now, T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson are taking over as Bel-Air’s third set of leaders. This marks the first showrunning gig for Brady and Newson, who have collaborated in the past on USA’s Shooter, Lifetime’s Army Wives and FX’s Lie to Me.
The idea for the show spawned from Morgan Cooper’s 2019 viral video, which caused a bidding war between Peacock, Netflix, and HBO Max. It was Peacock who ended up securing the two-season deal, originally planning a debut for this year. Now, the Will Smith-produced series is set to arrive sometime in 2022. However, casting for the show has yet to go underway.
Watch the original video below, in which Cooper takes the ’90s comedy and transforms it into a hard-hitting drama:
Originally, Collins was supposed to pen the script with Fresh Prince superfan Cooper. While Collins is no longer attached to the project, Cooper remains onboard as a writer, director, and co-executive producer. The reimagined spin on the lighthearted NBC comedy will “dive deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and biases of what it means to be a Black man in America today, while still delivering swagger and fun nods to the original show.”
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