This article contains spoilers for the new ‘A Different World.;’
Do you remember the 21st night of September? In Atlanta, this year, the date brought a different kind of celebration: the return of A Different World.
On September 21, Netflix brought the cast and creative team of the A Different World revival to Atlanta for a special screening at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. The event marked the final stop of the cast’s “Road to Hillman” College Tour, which previously visited campuses including Prairie View A&M University, Chicago State University, Howard University, and Hampton University.
The beloved sitcom, a spinoff of The Cosby Show, followed students as they navigated life at Hillman College. The fictional Virginia-based HBCU explored friendships, relationships, academics, and the realities of young Black students on campus. The series became closely associated with HBCU culture for an entire generation of viewers, making its return more than 30 years later a full-circle moment.
House of Funk. Photo by Netflix.
The choice of Morehouse felt especially fitting, and not just because the show was filmed there this past year. Before guests stepped in, they were immediately pulled into the environment that inspired the series in the first place. Morehouse’s House of Funk marching band brought the energy into the room with a performance alongside Mahogany N Motion and members of the Divine Nine.
Cast members in attendance included Maleah Joi Moon (Deborah Wayne), Alijah Kai (Rashida Duvall), Cornell Young IV (Shaquille Johnson), Jordan Aaron Hall (Amir Rodale), Kennedi Reece (Hazel Henry), Chibuikem Uche (Kojo Achebe), Jasmine Guy (Whitley Gilbert), Darryl M. Bell (Ron Johnson), and Cree Summer (Freddie Brooks). They were joined by Creator, Showrunner, and Executive Producer Felicia Pride; Executive Producer and Director of Episode 101 Debbie Allen; and Executive Producers Tom Werner, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Mandy Summers.
Felicia Pride. Photo by Netflix.
The energy carried into the screening, where Morehouse College president Dr. F. DuBois Bowmancreator, showrunner, and executive producer Felicia Pride, and the original A Different World Director and Producer, Debbie Allen, both said a few words, thanking Netflix and lifelong fans of the show for sticking around decades later. Netflix showed the first two episodes of the new series, which shows a new group of students emerging at Hillman College.
At the center is Deborah Wayne, the daughter of Hillman alum Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne. She arrives at Hillman still figuring out who she is and what she wants, despite her mother’s overbearing concerns. But just like the original, she’s not doing it alone.
She’s joined by her roommate Rashida, a first-generational criminal justice major; Hazel, a small-town girl who’s also finding herself; accompany her on her journey of finding herself, while battling their own chaos; Shaquille, a star quarterback who chooses an HBCU for reasons unbeknownst to his father; Amir, a psych major from Harlem who is better at solving everyone else’s problems than his own; and Kojo, a Ghanaian-Nigerian fashion entrepreneur trying to convince his family to let him follow his passion.
Along with a fresh cast, the show’s iconic theme song also has a noticeable update. This time, performed by “the Vocal Bible” herself, Brandy. The original series famously cycled through three official versions of its opening theme during its six-season run, with Phoebe Snow, Aretha Franklin and Boyz II Men lending their voices to different eras of the show. It’s another small yet significant change that signals a new beginning.
For Felicia Pride, who serves as creator, showrunner, and executive producer, taking on A Different World came with a lot of pressure.
“I grew up on the original series,” Pride said. “I didn’t want to be the one responsible for messing it up.”
She knew longtime fans would have opinions. But she also knew the show had to have a reason to exist beyond nostalgia. A convincing conversation with Debbie Allen helped put that into perspective.
“Debbie also said, ‘Now is the time to hear from Young Black America’,” Pride recalled.
So, instead of recreating a show that’s already been done before, she wanted to give another generation its own version of Hillman. For Allen, who returns as a director and executive producer, that meant getting to know the actors beyond their dialogue and characters.
“I made them all write five pages of their backstory that wasn’t written, so I could hear what they thought [about] their characters, where they came from, what they cared about, what was their religion… It’s part of my process. It’s just a process for an actor to go further than what’s on the page.”
For Alijah Kai, the revival brought together two important parts of her life. Kai is the daughter of actress Tichina Arnold, who plays Rashida’s mother, Darlene Duvall, in the show.
Alijah Kai and Chibuikem Uche. Photo by Netflix.
Kai has also known Allen since she was young, having trained at Debbie Allen Dance Academy. She initially had no idea she was auditioning for A Different World. The project was being referred to as an untitled HBCU series. Then she saw Allen’s name attached.
Once she learned what the project actually was, she felt she had no choice but to jump on it, after spending so much of her childhood under Allen’s mentorship.
“I was so blessed to know that I got to be with her again, and it felt like home, because the majority of my years was with her,” she said. “It just felt like a full circle just completing itself.”
Returning cast includes Jasmine Guy as Whitley Gilbert, now a former beauty mogul trying to figure out what’s next for her empire; Darryl M. Bell as Dwayne’s bestie Ron Johnson, while Cree Summer returns as Freddie Brooks, who is now a professor and mentor for the next generation at Hillman. Kadeem Hardison reprises his role as Dwayne Wayne and is part of the school administration.
There are several other cast members with family ties to the series, including Allen’s son, Norman Nixon Jr., who appears in the new series, as well as Guy’s daughter. Hardison’s daughter also makes an appearance, while Cree Summer’s brother plays Amir’s parole officer.
Bell, who plays Shaquille’s overbearing father and manager in a storyline that bears some similarities to the public dynamic of Deion and Shedeur Sanders, has had nearly four decades to reflect on what returning to A Different World means to him. Returning to the set gave him a perspective he couldn’t have had when the original series was filming, calling it “one of the gifts of maturing.”
“We’re here, and we get to see it all. Every day is a blessing. All of us have experienced enough life and enough loss to know nothing’s promised. So, to be here, and to see all of these things happen, you know, it’s really amazing and rewarding,” Bell said.
The new season arrives with plenty of familiar pieces, but the students at the center of it are dealing with their own unique set of questions that gives the series room to follow a legacy while also creating its own identity.
All 10 episodes of Netflix’s A Different World are now playing.
