“We take a lot of risks in these storylines just to be authentic and to be modern and to be transparent,” said Jones. And I think that’ll be a pleasant surprise for the people watching because whatever preconceived ideas they have about the show, it’s really nothing like them. I’m just excited for people to see storylines that would have them a little shocked. I know me personally, I’m shocked by my storyline.

Sholotan added, “I keep saying [to] treat this like a different show. It is such a different show and it might as well be called something else, but just the characters are [their] names, you know what I mean? But it’s a very completely different show.”

Following Sholotan and Jones, Akbar saiid, “I feel like a lot of people kind of can compare it to the original The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but it’s literally not the same. It’s just the same characters. You’re just digging deeper into bigger issues and basically opening up their journal and finding out what they’re really about.’

The first three episodes of Bel-Air drop on Peacock Feb. 13, with the remaining episodes for the season dropping weekly.

Jabari Banks