Audiences around the world were nonplussed when it was first announced that Will Smith would be partnering with NBC/Peacock to reboot his 1990s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Bel-Air, a one-hour drama coming from him and the man who’d cut together his own dark take on the show, Morgan Cooper, and dropped the whole thing on YouTube.
Now entering its sophomore season set to premiere February 23rd, 2023, the show has obviously found a fanbase hungry for its grittier take on the shenanigans Will got up to as a kid updated to the modern darker world in which America now resides. Peacock has dropped a teaser for the second season of their gamble that paid off.
The first season of the series aw the world being set up with audiences experiencing the changes taking a sitcom and adapting its situations to a more realistically dramatic form meant, seeing Will and Carlton, Uncle Phil and Auntie Viv, and Jazz and the rest of the characters take shape in the new take on the smash hit series that shot Will Smith to Hollywood superstardom. The new season will see Will returning home, rebuilding his relationships with the various members of the Banks family, and finding himself challenged when a newcomer arrives in Bel-Air.
The new teaser opens on Will talking about the choices people have to make while it cuts between the various cast members and hints at what those choices might be. Phillip Banks looks serious while Will talks about pushing for what he wants or letting people figure it out on their own. He says to set your own rules while Hillary looks the debutante she always was even if there’s a cunning gleam in her eye. Ashley banks stands up while a banner stating that Black Teachers Matter unfurls in front of the school while Will offers up the possibility of disturbing the system.
As Will talks about staying true to a vision no matter the cost, Vivian wears white in what looks like a gallery. Carlton remains in school as Will talks about playing the game they want him to play. “Or simply walk away,” he suggests over footage of Jazz that fades to shadow. Will finishes by saying that they all have choices to make—the difference this time? Will’s decided that no one will choose for him.
The new season of Bel-Air drops on Peacock February 23rd, 2023.