‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Reunion Special Coming to HBO Max
Written by SOURCE on August 31, 2020
The cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting together for an unscripted reunion special that you’ll be able to watch around Thanksgiving on HBO Max, provided you subscribe to that streamer.
According to Deadline, the get-together will include Will Smith (which it kind of has to), in addition to co-stars Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Alfonso Ribeiro, and DJ Jazzy Jeff. The special will be taped on Sept. 10, which is signifcant since it marks the 30-year anniversary of the series’ premiere on NBC. As we said above, it’ll launch some time around Thanksgiving.
This is obviously all very fitting for the streamer since, if you have HBO Max, then you’re aware that they’ve snagged exclusive rights to the original show’s 148 episodes, which spanned six seasons from 1990 to 1996. Those episodes have been available to stream since the service launched in May.
Deadline writes that the reunion will take a look back at the series and examine the cultural impact that it had. The special is set to feature music, dancing, and surprise guests.
This, of course, represents the second major development for the Fresh Prince intellectual property in August. Earlier this month it was announced that Smith, along with Morgan Cooper, would be developing a more dramatic series reboot based upon a viral short fan film that Cooper put together in 2019. That reboot has apparently in development for more than a year, shortly after Cooper uploaded the idea onto YouTube. A handful of streamers, one of which is HBO Max, are reportedly bidding for that new take on the series.
Anyway, tapping into nostalgia is also on the minds of HBO Max, as they have a similar reunion planned for Friends (though it was delayed due to COVID) and there’s also a special that will have The West Wing cast band back together to raise voting awareness prior to the election.
