Eaters alert! Don’t read if you haven’t seen the end of the season Bell Air On the peacock.
It took a few seasons before fans met Will Smith’s father Lu Fresh Prince of Bell Air (Starring Ben Varin). But the peacock Bell Air – as it has already appeared in the first 10 episodes – it’s nothing like the sitcom of the ’90s that played Will Smith in the title role.
In the first season of the drama, Marlon Owens plays Will (Jabri Banks) as the long-lost father Lur. Before his unexpected return home, Will was led by his mother V (April Parker Jones) and Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) to believe that Lou had left his family; In fact, Lu was spending time in prison and never wanted his son to see him behind bars.
Here, co-listeners and executive producers TJ Brady and Rashed Newson talk about their decision to introduce Will’s father in the first season of the show (the show is already in its second year) and his sudden appearance brings problems for the family. *
Why is the deadline so early to meet the father?
TJ Brady Complete restructuring of Bell-Air Fresh Prince and we wanted to meet expectations and not drag it down. Several times throughout the season, Will mentioned not having a father and growing up without a father, and how Uncle Phil fulfilled that role. Sometimes he says this to justify self-destructive behavior, other times to explain why he would keep his distance. We wanted to meet the expectations of the audience by challenging him, to show this guy again in his life and to discover that the story he was told all his life, that he made an identity around, is not true.
Rashed News It had to be accelerated because it’s something that comes with taking a sitcom and turning it into drama. In a sitcom you can shed light on the fact that Will met her in a rich relationship that she had not seen for years. In this one, you have to explain why there was this rift in the family. It’s a normal question, those stories have to come out. When Will was 4, his father was convicted of a felony and sentenced to life in prison, and he told Will’s mother and uncle, Phil, ‘Don’t let my son down here. If you bring him down here I will not come to see him. I don’t want him to see me like that. I grew up watching my dad in prison and I think it confuses me and I don’t want to do it with my son. ‘ Uncle Phil and Will’s mother couldn’t tell a 4-year-old that your dad was in prison and didn’t want to see you anymore so they let him think his dad was gone. They are now reckoning with it because her father is at the door.
TJ Brady That part will be a difficult time for anyone. When will we tell him the truth? Maybe there’s no reason to tell him. Maybe one day he will be able to handle it when he grows up. Seventeen is just on the verge of youth and youth. It was on this line that they walked and it came back to create some conflict in the final.
NEWSOM We are trying to do something together that seems understandable from all angles. I don’t think they fully understand the damage they have done to Will. In the last two episodes, Will asks if his father is alive. He continues with the idea that he is dead.
Brady The deeper thing we are trying to explore with all the characters is an identity, and how identity develops and is defined and how it can change. Will made his identity, especially in Philadelphia, basically how he had to take steps to fulfill a role for his mother because his father was not there and they were not needed.
Deadlines but the whole reunion blew up.
NEWSOM Will leaves and leaves the palace. Lu cannot accept responsibility for his part in it. He wants to blame a lot of people, and when he starts slandering Will’s mother, it leads to a huge argument. Don’t stand for it.
DEADLINE How did you land at Marlon Owens?
NEWSOM We knew she would be good but also amazing. There are many people who were clear candidates. But we wanted someone to tell the audience, ‘OK, wait a minute.’ We wanted it to feel fresh. We didn’t want to feel like someone was repeating a role that they did in another series that was very similar.
Is Deadline Owens coming back for Season 2?
Brady I don’t know if he will be regular but we hope to see him again.
NEWSOM The way it ended, Will and Lou miles away. They don’t really go for it. But in Will’s life, his dad would have to come back, but he wouldn’t live in LA and someone you see regularly.
* This interview was taken before the Oscars on Sunday.
