The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
debate player Will Smith is n’t asterisk in the series , theBel - Airreboot begs the head of why the main character is still named Will Smith . WhileThe Fresh Prince of Bel - Airwasn’t base on Will Smith ’s spirit , with the only real connection being his West Philadelphia scope , the nineties sitcom made the protagonist a fictionalized version of himself with the same name . alike to howSeinfeldmade its admirer a semi - fictionalized reading of Jerry Seinfeld , Fresh Princecreated a largely fictitious life and write up for Will Smith ’s character compared to his real life , which made it curious as to why they kept his real name in the first place .
Peacock’sBel - Airis a dramatic reimagining ofThe Fresh Prince ’s 1990s situation comedy , with the reboot origin with Will ’s fight in Philadelphia that transmit him to Bel - Air . Every major fiber inBel - Airshares the name of their nineties counterparts but is portrayed by a Modern actor , include Jabari Banks playing Will Smith , Adrian Holmes as Uncle Phil , and Olly Sholotan as Carlton Banks . While the names and oecumenical storyline stay the same , Bel - Air ’s serious rebootchanges the personalities and characterizations of the original material body , making it feel like a new show entirely .
colligate : Can The Fresh Prince Of Bel - Air Work Without Will Smith ?
The Fresh Prince of Bel - Air ’s supporter Will Smith was portrayed by Will Smith , but this is not the type for Peacock ’s original series . While the reboot could have easily kept the name Will but changed the protagonist ’s surname , Bel - Airkeeps the name Will Smith . Since the names of every other returningFresh Princecharacter remains the same , Bel - Airkeeping Will Smith ’s name is mostly a pointedness of continuity . It may become confusing for viewer if every other character like the verydifferent Phil and Carltonstill have the same last name , but Will has a new one , which would possibly suggest that it ’s an all young fictitious character . While the character ’s personality is more or less different inBel - Air , Will Smith is still the same figure from the original sitcom , even though his actor is no longer the real Will Smith .
Getting around the issues with using the likeness of Will Smith without the actor still portray the character , Bel - Airis co - developed by actor Will Smith . There would probably be certain yield about the ethics of using someone else ’s important person without their involvement , butBel - Airbeing co - make by Will Smith with Morgan Cooper supports the fact that the reboot is the same original story but say in a more comprehensive way that it could n’t in the 1990s situation comedy format . HadBel - Air ’s dramatic rebootbeen a revitalisation instead , the Will Smith name likely still would have been used anyways . While Will Smith ’s is theatrical role is still embedded in the reboot , Bel - Airmade a pregnant change by dropping “ The Fresh Prince ” from the title , which originally came from Smith ’s musical leg name .
Bel - Aircontinuing to use Will Smith ’s name still repeats some of the fictional oddities of the original serial when construct Will ’s crime syndicate . Since the fictional Will was get up by his mother , her last name was Smith as well , with his Aunt Viv also have the initiatory name Smith . The most significant difference of opinion between the real Will Smith ’s name and the show ’s version that separates the two as a fictional story is that in the show , Will is short for “ William , ” while in tangible - life Smith ’s nickname is short for “ Willard . ”
Fresh Prince ’s original show decide to use Will Smith ’s real name because Smith already had name identification from his medicine career , plus Smith andCarlton actor Alfonso Ribeirorealized they would be phone by their characters ’ name for infinity if the show became a hit . As such , Will Smith ’s character stimulate the same name as the thespian work to raise the ill fame of his celebrity status , with no confusedness between his character name and real name . This does present a job forBel - Air ’s reboot , as Jabari Banks will now become known as Will Smith , which could become very confusing when differentiating between conversations about the genuine eponymic histrion or character .
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