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Even the star of\u00a0Bel-Air<\/a> himself Jabari Banks wasn\u2019t quite sure what to make of Morgan Cooper\u2019s reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air when it was in its infancy.<\/p>\n The filmmaker, who is a director, writer and exec-producer on the series, has taken the key elements of the iconic 90s sitcom \u2013 protagonist Will Smith, the Banks family and the lavish Bel-Air setting \u2013 and spun them into a drama<\/a>, with obstacles, both new and familiar, for our West Philly-born leading man to navigate.<\/p>\n \u201cMy friend called me and said, \u2018They\u2019re doing a Fresh Prince reboot, except it\u2019s dark.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018What is going on?!\u2019 Banks told RadioTimes.com<\/a>. \u201cI knew that people were sceptical about it, and I was going into it.\u201d<\/p>\n But he very quickly came to understand the thinking behind the new-look show, adding: \u201cAnd people are having an equal reaction now. There\u2019s been so much love. We are really blazing our own path with this show.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWhen it came to the project, I didn\u2019t necessarily feel much pressure because\u2026 I knew that the original would be looming over us, obviously. That\u2019s something that we really can\u2019t escape.\u201d<\/p> It was that initial doubt that helped the cast of Bel-Air bond, according to Banks.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time they say \u2018cut\u2019, we break into a song. It\u2019s really incredible. It\u2019s great,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve cultivated such an amazing camaraderie throughout this whole process. It feels like they\u2019re actually family, a<\/span>nd I think that\u2019s because we all know the weight and we all wanted to handle this project with care. We\u2019re standing on the shoulders of giants, and we knew that.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe really had to go into this battle together because there was a lot of scepticism, at first and we had to shut all that out and say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re really creating something that we believe in here.\u2019 And I think that really brought us closer together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added: \u201cPeople are really sensitive about their nostalgia and I get that. This was a beloved 90s sitcom and they wanted it to be good, and we wanted to do right by them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n New episodes of Bel-Air are streaming on\u00a0Peacock via Sky and NOW<\/a>\u00a0every Friday. Find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV here<\/a>. Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Monday, 28 February 2022 at 12:00 am Even the star of\u00a0Bel-Air himself Jabari Banks wasn\u2019t quite sure what to make of Morgan Cooper\u2019s reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air when it was in its infancy. The filmmaker, who is a director, writer and exec-producer on the series, has taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Monday, 28 February 2022 at 12:00 am Even the star of\u00a0Bel-Air himself Jabari Banks wasn\u2019t quite sure what to make of Morgan Cooper\u2019s reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air when it was in its infancy. The filmmaker, who is a director, writer and exec-producer on the series, has taken…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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