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On August 31, NBC’s streaming service Peacock shared a video where Will Smith surprised newcomer Jabari Banks. In the video, he announced the casting of Banks for the role of young Will Smith in the reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
The series will be directed and co-written by Morgan Cooper (of 2019’s U Shoot Videos? fame). Bel-Air is the reimagination of the hit 90’s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The new series is set as a drama instead of a sitcom.
Furthermore, it was reported that in 2020 NBC greenlit another season for the series. Universal Television produced Bel-Air along with Will Smith and his wife Jada’s Westbrook Studios.
Who is Jabari Banks?
Jabari Banks is a newcomer who, like Will Smith himself, has been:
“In west Philadelphia born and raised.”
Banks is expected to be around 23-24 years old, as the young actor was reported to have graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia last year. Like Will Smith, Jabari Banks has also delved into singing, songwriting, rapping, and basketball.
In the video, Will Smith told Jabari:
“It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, to be on with you, and from the deepest parts of my heart, I want to say congratulations to you. You have the role of Will on Bel-Air.”
Smith further added:
“You got a fantastic road ahead of you, and I’m looking forward to being an asset for you in this process as you start to build out your life and build out your career.”
The video made it clear that the young actor, who had auditioned to play Smith’s role in the new adaptation, was grateful and surprised by the news.
Jabari Banks said:
“Thank you so much. This is a dream come true. You don’t know. Well, you probably do know. You can feel it…The way the show has impacted me and my life, it’s incredible to hear you say that.”
Not much else is known about Jabari Banks. The young actor is not that keen on social media. So far, only his Instagram profile has been discovered, where he has 16.4K followers as of yet, one of which is Will Smith himself. The actor was followed by thousands of people overnight after news of his casting was announced.
With the reboot, NBC and other producers of the show have been betting on new talents. Even director Morgan Cooper will be directing an entire season of a show for the first time. However, writer Chris Collins has previously worked on films like John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and TV series like Sons of Anarchy.
