Will Smith treated fans of his hit 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” to a virtual reunion on the season finale of his Snapchat series.
The reunion takes place over two episodes. According to Rolling Stone, the first part debuted Wednesday on the multimedia messaging app and the second part premiered Thursday morning.
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The majority of the “Fresh Prince” cast returned including Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Smith’s cousin Carlton Banks; DJ Jazzy Jeff, who portrayed Smith’s best friend Jazz; Tatyana Ali, who starred as Smith’s cousin Ashley Banks; Karyn Parsons, who also played a cousin of Smith as Hilary Banks; Joseph Marcell, who portrayed the family butler, Geoffrey and Daphne Maxwell Reid, who took over the role of Aunt Vivian after Janet Hubert’s exit following season 3.
Noticeably absent was James Avery, who portrayed Smith's uncle, Phil Banks. Avery died in 2013 but there was a retrospective tribute to him on "Will At Home." Hubert has previously made it clear she's no fan of Smith's and she wasn't present along with Ross Bagley, who played the youngest cousin Nicky Banks.
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On the program, Reid said she initially said “no” when she was urged to audition. She went on to portray Aunt Viv for the rest of the series’ run. Ali spoke about her Harvard University acceptance and how Smith opened her up to see “the world through music.” She also shared that Smith encouraged her to attend.
Marcell recalled "it just seemed natural" to audition for the pilot episode. Jeff shared he used to get "annoyed" that fans wanted to recreate his handshake with Smith, while Parsons remembered producers tried different sounds for the moment when Hilary's fiancé died in a bungee jumping accident. As for Ribeiro, he recalled urging Smith to use his real name on the series.
“It was such a deep insight that you had,” Smith said of the advice. “You said, ‘Because people are going to call you that for the rest of your life!'”
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