A sequel series to “A Different World” focused on Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter is in early development at Netflix.
The single-cam, half-hour comedy, which will focus on their daughter’s time at Hillman College, will be helmed by “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bel-Air” writer/executive producer Felicia Pride, according to Deadline. Debbie Allen, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Reggie Bythewood, Mandy Summers, and Tom Werner are joining as executive producers, according to the outlet.
Allen, Werner, Prince-Bythewood and Bythewood all worked on “A Different World,” which was a spinoff of the hit sitcom “The Cosby Show.” Prince-Bythewood and Bythewood were writers, and Allen was director-producer on the series. Werner executive produced the show for the Carsey-Werner Co., per Deadline.
The original NBC series, which starred Jasmine Guy as Whitley and Kadeem Hardison as Dwayne, ran for six seasons, beginning in 1987. “A Different World” originally followed “The Cosby Show” character Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) as she began her first year of university at Hillman College. After Bonet’s departure in the first season, the show focused on the other students and professors at the fictional HBCU. Dawnn Lewis, Glynn Turman, Sinbad, Cory Tyler, Lou Myers, Darryl M. Bell, Cree Summer, Charnele Brown and Jada Pinkett Smith all starred in the sitcom.
Whitley and Dwayne’s relationship was one of the central stories of the retooled show, with the couple having an on-and-off romance throughout the series run. The two characters got engaged in the season 5 episode “Save the Best For Last,” per Deadline, and Whitley discovered she was pregnant in the penultimate episode of the show.
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Casting for the sequel series has not officially begun, but conversations with the original cast members about interest and availability have occurred, reported Deadline, which said Netflix declined to comment on the sequel. The “A Different World” cast most recently reunited in February on “Today” and “The View” to celebrate the series’ “ongoing impact and legacy,” according to Deadline.
Following those daytime appearances, the cast began a 10-city HBCU tour to encourage student enrollment. Showrunner Pride most recently served as supervising producer on the third season of the Peacock series “Bel-Air,” a dramatic reimagining of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
