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| Maleah Joi Moon stars as Deborah Wayne in Netflix’s “A Different World” sequel, which follows the daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert during her freshman year at Hillman College. The series premieres Sept. 24. |
Hillman has a new freshman class, but the Wayne family is back where it started.
Netflix released the full trailer Monday for its “A Different World” sequel series, showing Maleah Joi Moon as Deborah Wayne, the youngest daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert, trying to build a college life separate from two parents whose names already mean something on campus.
The 10-episode series premieres Sept. 24.
Kadeem Hardison returns as Dwayne and Jasmine Guy as Whitley, placing one of Black television’s best-known sitcom couples on the other side of the college experience this time around.
Their daughter is the student.
Netflix describes Deborah as free-spirited, well-intentioned and rebellious. She arrives at the fictional historically Black Hillman College for freshman year but quickly discovers that being the child of two prominent alumni makes it difficult to begin with a blank slate.
The trailer shows Dwayne and Whitley maintaining a close watch on her life, something Deborah appears determined to escape.
Her new circle includes roommate Rashida, played by Alijah Kai; Kojo, played by Chibuikem Uche; Amir, played by Jordan Aaron Hall; Hazel, played by Kennedi Reece; and Shaquille, played by Cornell Young IV.
Shaquille provides another direct link to the original cast.
He is the son of Ron Johnson, Dwayne’s longtime friend, with Darryl M. Bell returning as Ron. Deborah and Shaquille also arrive at Hillman with romantic history of their own.
The connections do not stop there.
Debbie Allen appears as Deborah’s academic adviser, Dr. Langhorne, while also serving as an executive producer and directing the premiere.
Allen’s involvement carries particular weight because she helped shape the original series after its first season. Netflix says she produced 122 episodes and directed 83 during its original run.
The trailer confirms an unusually deep roster of returning alumni.
Cree Summer is back as Freddie Brooks. Jenifer Lewis reprises Professor Davenport. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Lena James.
Netflix has also announced Ajai Sanders as Gina Deveaux, Karen Malina White as Charmaine Brown, Charnele Brown as Dr. Kimberly Reese Boyer, Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor and Glynn Turman as Colonel Bradford Taylor.
That makes the project something more specific than a remake built around the title of an old sitcom.
This is a continuation of the original characters’ lives.
“It’s not just nostalgia. It’s like, ‘Where are they now?’” Allen told Netflix.
The distinction matters for a series whose original audience is being asked to watch Hillman through the eyes of its characters’ children.
“A Different World” ran for six seasons on NBC from 1987 to 1993. While the series was a comedy, it routinely moved beyond dating and dorm-room stories to address race, class, politics, HIV/AIDS, war and other subjects rarely centered in prime-time shows built around young Black characters at the time.
The sequel will consist of 10 single-camera half-hour episodes, according to Netflix. Felicia Pride, whose credits include “Bel-Air” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” serves as showrunner and executive producer. Original writers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood also return as executive producers.
The new cast has some notable throwback connections of its own.
Cliff “Method Man” Smith plays Coach Coles, while Tichina Arnold appears as Darlene Duvall. Raven Goodwin is Dr. Brooklyn Boyer.
Netflix says the trailer also teases an appearance by R&B singer Summer Walker.
And the show has already recruited another major name from ’90s Black pop culture for its music.
Brandy recorded the new version of the “A Different World” opening theme. Original cast member Dawnn Lewis, who co-wrote the song, is also among the actors returning.
Aretha Franklin performed the best-known version during the original show’s run.
That gives Netflix a delicate assignment.
The original “A Different World” was not simply popular because viewers liked Hillman. For many Black viewers, it made an HBCU campus the center of a national network television series at a time when that environment was rarely depicted with that depth.
The sequel cannot recreate what that meant in 1987.
It can, however, answer a question the new trailer embraces directly: What does Hillman look like when the students who once had to figure out adulthood for themselves are now the parents, professors and alumni watching another generation do it?
We find out Sept. 24.
Allen’s involvement carries particular weight because she helped shape the original series after its first season. Netflix says she produced 122 episodes and directed 83 during its original run.
The trailer confirms an unusually deep roster of returning alumni.
Cree Summer is back as Freddie Brooks. Jenifer Lewis reprises Professor Davenport. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Lena James.
Netflix has also announced Ajai Sanders as Gina Deveaux, Karen Malina White as Charmaine Brown, Charnele Brown as Dr. Kimberly Reese Boyer, Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor and Glynn Turman as Colonel Bradford Taylor.
That makes the project something more specific than a remake built around the title of an old sitcom.
This is a continuation of the original characters’ lives.
“It’s not just nostalgia. It’s like, ‘Where are they now?’” Allen told Netflix.
The distinction matters for a series whose original audience is being asked to watch Hillman through the eyes of its characters’ children.
“A Different World” ran for six seasons on NBC from 1987 to 1993. While the series was a comedy, it routinely moved beyond dating and dorm-room stories to address race, class, politics, HIV/AIDS, war and other subjects rarely centered in prime-time shows built around young Black characters at the time.
The sequel will consist of 10 single-camera half-hour episodes, according to Netflix. Felicia Pride, whose credits include “Bel-Air” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” serves as showrunner and executive producer. Original writers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood also return as executive producers.
The new cast has some notable throwback connections of its own.
Cliff “Method Man” Smith plays Coach Coles, while Tichina Arnold appears as Darlene Duvall. Raven Goodwin is Dr. Brooklyn Boyer.
Netflix says the trailer also teases an appearance by R&B singer Summer Walker.
And the show has already recruited another major name from ’90s Black pop culture for its music.
Brandy recorded the new version of the “A Different World” opening theme. Original cast member Dawnn Lewis, who co-wrote the song, is also among the actors returning.
Aretha Franklin performed the best-known version during the original show’s run.
That gives Netflix a delicate assignment.
The original “A Different World” was not simply popular because viewers liked Hillman. For many Black viewers, it made an HBCU campus the center of a national network television series at a time when that environment was rarely depicted with that depth.
The sequel cannot recreate what that meant in 1987.
It can, however, answer a question the new trailer embraces directly: What does Hillman look like when the students who once had to figure out adulthood for themselves are now the parents, professors and alumni watching another generation do it?
We find out Sept. 24.
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