The following incorporates spoilers for Thursday’s episode of Bel-Air. Proceed accordingly.
Bel-Air welcomed one other Fresh Prince alum with Tatyana Ali’s arrival within the Season 2 premiere as Ashley’s trainer Mrs. Hughes.
Previously, Daphne Maxwell Reid and Vernee Watson-Johnson — who performed Aunt Viv and Viola “Vy” Smith within the OG collection, respectively — appeared in Season 1 as board members interviewing Vivian for a coveted artwork fellowship.
This week’s episode revealed that Mrs. Hughes was fired for giving Ashley books about Black Panther activists from her private assortment. The Banks household, together with Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv, rallied round her to assist get her job again — however to no avail to this point.
For showrunner Carla Banks Waddles, Ali’s look within the first two episodes of Season 2 was an enormous alternative that occurred organically.
“In the writers’ room, we talked about this character of Mrs. Hughes, this teacher who was very important to Ashley. Once we started talking about the character, then it became, ‘What if Tatyana Ali was that person?’” Waddles tells TVLine. “Knowing how important she was to the Banks family, knowing that Hilary would have had her as a teacher, that Carlton would have had her as a teacher, and now Ashley has her as a teacher, it just felt perfect.”
According to govt producer Morgan Cooper, it was vital for the staff behind the present to characteristic appearances from the legacy solid in a method that didn’t really feel jarring or unnatural.
“Will [Smith] and I had conversations as we were developing Bel-Air [that] if there are organic moments where we can include some of the original cast in the Bel-Air universe, we should try to do that, but always in a way that felt organic and never forced,” Cooper shares. “[Ali] came in and absolutely knocked it out of the park and was such a collaborative partner for that story with her and Akira Akbar.”
But will we see Mrs. Hughes once more? Waddles wouldn’t say, however famous that she is a “very important character in the series, and to Ashley.”
As for different OG solid members dropping in, Waddles confirms that Daphne Maxwell Reid will return this season as Janice. Per the Bel-Air EP, Reid is a “very big part” of Aunt Viv’s story and can “cause a little bit of trouble.”
Which different Fresh Prince solid members would you wish to see seem in Bel-Air? Share your ideas in feedback beneath.
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