March 30, 2025
The pilot for the sequel marks only the second time that the streaming giant has ordered a pilot.
Netflix has greenlit a pilot for A Different World, a sequel to the 1987 sitcom that starred Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison as Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne. The new series will follow their daughter’s experiences at an HBCU.
According to Deadline, the pilot for the sequel marks only the second time that the streaming giant has ordered a pilot, the vast majority of its shows are produced in a straight to series manner, which means that unlike network television, they (and by extension, other major streamers) order an entire season sans a traditional pilot episode.
Per Deadline‘s sources, the pilot is a one-off and not a sign of a strategy shift from Netflix and the show comes with its own heavy hitters attached to the production side as writer/executive producer and showrunner Felicia Pride and executive producers Debbie Allen, Mandy Summers, Tom Werner, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Bythewood are all responsible for the sequel.
The Bythewoods, Allen, and Werner are all veterans of the original series and Allen is reportedly reprising her role as the director of the sequel, the role she held for the entirety of the original series.
The original 1987 series was at its outset a spinoff of “The Cosby Show” and was supposed to follow the character Lisa Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and her classmates at Hillman College, a fictional HBCU.
However, Bonet left after one season following her pregnancy (and at the request of Bill Cosby, its creator, who reportedly didn’t want a young unwed mother on the series) and the show pivoted towards an ensemble cast that prominently featured Hardison, Guy, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell, Sinbad, Cree Summer, and Glynn Turman.
However, although the original series focused on Hillman, it is currently unknown whether or not the sequel will remain focused on Hillman or if it will focus on another, yet to be determined HBCU.
Faces to consider for A Different World sequel series @netflix pic.twitter.com/FXgTiAWeSz
Marsi Martin would be perfect for this https://t.co/T0scReeDDe
This makes me both so excited but also so nervous because Netflix doesn’t usually do pilot orders which mean so many factors have to work in the shows favor for it to get the full season or even released https://t.co/HnZrPT8z3n
As Variety reported in August 2024, the series will somewhat resemble Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” a reboot of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” which Pride was a supervising producer on during Season 3 of the series.
It is also unknown how much Cosby is connected to the sequel following his release from prison in 2021, but the reactions to the news of the show on social media has spawned fan casts and some amount of trepidation mixed with excitement as there are currently no roles filled on the show.
According to Deadline, the show is looking to film the pilot in Atlanta in June, but to do that, they will have to rather quickly fill uncast roles.
It’s A Different World indeed.
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