When a reboot ofFresh Prince of Bel-Airwas announced, many rolled their eyes. Luckily, the showBel-Airhas not fallen into the same traps as some other lazy reboots fans have seen, and one of the show’s main actors has recently explained why.
Actor Jordan J. Jones, who portrays Jazz - a taxi driver who forms a friendship with Will - on the show, opened up about what his time has been like involved inPeacock’sBel-Air. Although his portrayal of Jazz has drawn plenty of comparisons to the character of the same name inthe originalFresh Prince of Bel-Airon namesake alone, Jones made it a focus to make his portrayal of the character his own.
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Part of what went into Jones' effort to make his interpretation of Jazz stand out came from the encouragement he got from the original show’s cast,headed by Will Smithand the original character’s actor, DJ Jazzy Jeff. “That was the best part, even still, for me. Will Smith is like my idol… When it comes to comedy, I enjoy it, but I don’t ever want to be boxed in that way. I want to be able to do drama… and still do comedy, and I want it to all be believable,” Jones said to Geekset Podcast. “There was no part of me to try to be like, ‘Okay, so what would Jazz from the original do in this situation?’ because he was never in that situation… It’s not a bad thing (because) it was a comedy. We didn’t need to!”
In fact, Jones' different interpretation of Jazz is one of the many liberties the show has taken as a whole compared to the original show.The Fresh Prince of Bel-Airgarnered the reputationit did in the 1990s primarily because of its comedic tone, though it definitely had its serious moments. That’s why, to this day, the show still has a strong fanbase that re-watches the show endlessly. Its rebootBel-Airhas surprisingly taken a much more dramatic route compared to the original show, which is why, unlike many of the other reboots audiences have previously seen, this reboot’s reception has been largely positive as a whole.
This could pave the way for Hollywood to properly utilize the art of rebooting a property. Instead of just lazily retreading material that the audience has already seen just in a modern setting, fans are seeing characters with the same names be completely different from what they had previously grown accustomed to decades ago. That’s an original route to take that would challenge other showrunners to simultaneously reboot a successful franchise while also coming up with their own material at the same time.
That would make one think,How had nobody thought of this until now?The simple answer is, it’s because fans are in an era in which Hollywood is trying to milk the reboot trend for all it’s worth with as little shame and effort as possible. It’s not anything new per se, but rather they just aren’t trying to be subtle about it anymore. Luckily, whatthose involved withBel-Airhave done could serve as a potential game-changer for studios looking to cash in on TV nostalgia by inspiring them to go above and beyond.
