Almost three years after Morgan Cooper's viral trailer took the internet by storm, Bel-Air, the drama series reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is debuting to the world.

Set in "modern-day America," the series is "imagines the beloved sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air through a new, dramatic take on Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. As these two worlds collide, Will reckons with the power of second chances while navigating the conflicts, emotions, and biases of a world far different from the only one he’s ever known."

Ahead of the series premiere, Shadow and Act spoke with writer and executive producer Morgan Cooper, showrunners TJ Brady and Rasheed Newson and stars Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones and Simone Joy Jones.

"In terms of my process for creating, it always just comes from striving to make something honest...[that's] what it really boils down to," Cooper told us. "And so, you can never reboot The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What they did and how they did it is in a time capsule, and they caught lightning in a bottle, and to even try to do anything like they did would be disrespectful because you just can't do it. And so for me, it was really all about reimagining these characters and the spirit of who they were and grounding them in modern-day life and saying to myself, what is an honest portrayal of what 2022 Carlton would look like now, given the circumstances of Will's arrival? It was really just about approaching it from an honest lens."