Will Smith dishes 'Fresh Princess,' says 'we're thinking about' a 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' remake
Nearly three decades after the beloved "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" debuted on TV, Will Smith is back with a new project, this time about a "Fresh Princess."
Smith said he can still remember the "stark terror" he felt when he shot the first scenes of the long-running hit TV show, telling "Good Morning America" that "there were some heavy-hitting actors on that set."
Now, 29 years after the show premiered, Smith is teaming up with author Denene Millner to launch a book, "Fresh Princess," inspired by the hit show.
"He had this brilliant idea to create ... a little girl that was very much like the Fresh Prince," Millner said. "She would be strong, she would be confident, she would be super cute, she would be a little bit of a troublemaker."
Millner adds that she grew up watching the show on TV, and that it felt like "home" to her.
"Just seeing this family unit, this beautiful African American family unit living and loving and showing how to be, through humor, of course, but also just loving one another," Millner said of the show. "It was home."
Smith's original character is now embodied in the star of the new book series.
"There are ... such beautiful ideas in ... 'The Fresh Prince' ... 'The Fresh Princess,'" Smith said, adding that they share the same idea of "being uprooted, and to have to make your way in this strange new world."
When he told his daughter, Willow, about the series, Smith says she "was like, 'It's about time.'"
When asked if Smith would ever get back together for a "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" remake, he said ,"We're thinking about it," but that if they do it, he wants to do it right.
"It was like ... a perfect 3-pointer ... at the end of the game," he said of the show's finale. "So I don't want to go back and mess it up."
