Now this is a story all about how Will Smith went back to Bel-Air.
The actor, 57, made a surprise cameo on the series finale of Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” 29 years after the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” ended in 1996.
The modern-day reboot followed Jabari Banks playing Will as he moves across the country from Philadelphia to Bel-Air.
On Monday, the Season 4 ending saw Smith appear on the show for the first time, despite being an executive producer since the start in 2022.
In the scene, Will is seen talking to “OG” (Smith) who is sharing words of wisdom to the high school graduate about leaving California for college in Philadelphia.
“Trust me, you’re going to mess some things up and do some dumb s–t. But you’re human — you’ll learn, you’ll grow,” Smith said. “Life goes by fast, man, try to enjoy the ride.”
According to showrunner Carla Banks Waddles, having Smith included was strategically planned.
“When we pitched the season out early from the writers’ room, [Smith] was a part of it,” she told Deadline on Monday. “We were like, ‘This is the season. We want him in the finale, and we know he wants to do the show. We’ve always wanted him on the show, and now’s the time, because there’s no more show after this.’”
But just in case Smith had other plans, the show had an alternative ending ready.
“We found out about two weeks before that he’s going to be able to get back to the States and do it,” she said. “As you can imagine, he’s got an uber-busy schedule. We had days when we had given up hope, and others where we were like, could it be? I’m just glad that it worked out.”
Show creator Morgan Cooper called seeing Smith and Banks, 27, filming together “unforgettable.”
“To see Jabari and Will together just felt like a full circle moment. It was seven years in the making for that moment to happen,” he told Entertainment Weekly on Monday.
“It took me back to 2019 when I first met Will Smith, and we were down in Miami developing the show,” Cooper, 33, recalled. “To be standing there behind [the] monitor, calling action for my hero… it was just such a blessing and I’m so proud of the quality of work that they delivered.”
The creator also told TVLine that having both Wills come together for the first and last time was the “perfect way to cap off this seven-year journey of bringing ‘Bel-Air’ to life.”
“I’m so proud of Jabari, because to stand and act with Will Smith, you know, he’s the most iconic actor of our time. Jabari approached that scene with so much heart and so much fearlessness,” Cooper continued. “Those are big shoes to fill, and every step of the way, he has risen to the occasion. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
For Banks, it was a surreal moment.
“His cameo in ‘Bel-Air’ feels like a truly poetic return, and I’m beyond excited for fans — not only of our show, ‘Bel-Air,’ but of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ — to experience it and feel that ull-circle moment for themselves,” he said in a statement shared by Peacock, per People.
In 2024, Smith, who starred in “Fresh Prince” for six seasons starting in 1990, got candid on watching actress Coco Jones on “Bel-Air.”
The singer, 27, played Hilary Banks, and was able to capture the essence of both the original series and reboot.
“I just loved how confident she was to have total respect for the original but be able to take her room to embody the character with her own heart and interpretation,” Smith told Access Hollywood at the time. “And that’s really, really hard to do. So, I applaud that.”
His cameo comes after the “Men in Black” star came under fire in 2022 for slapping Chris Rock across the face at the Oscars.
Smith could be heard saying: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth,” after the comedian, 60, made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 54, being bald.
In July of that year, Smith revealed he “reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is that he is not ready to talk.”
“So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you,” Smith said in his YouTube video. “My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
He added: “I’m human and I made a mistake and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s–t.”
Since the incident, Smith has continued to collaborate on various projects, including working as an executive producer on “Cobra Kai” from 2019 to 2025, and an executive producer on 2023’s “African Queens: Njinga.” He also starred in and served as a producer on “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” in 2024.
In March, he even boasted that he’s “back on top” when he dropped his “Based on a True Story” album, where he also resurfaced the Rock scandal.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
