This September, class will be in session for the new class of Hillman College students. Ahead of its release, Netflix dropped some first-look photos of its new reboot of the beloved sitcom, A Different World, and what viewers can expect.
The upcoming series is a reboot of NBC’s TheCosby Show spinoff— that originally followed the Huxtable daughter Denise, and highlighted the lives of students who attended Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college based in Virginia. The show ran from 1987 to 1993.
The Netflix reboot will follow the daughter of Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne’s (Kadeem Hardison) daughter, Deborah Wayne. Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon) is “a free-spirited aspiring artist” who is forced to attend her parents’ alma mater.
The series will have 10 episodes and will offer insight into modern Black campus life in today’s day and age.
Debbie Allen, the visionary who helped sculpt and revamp the original series, makes her return as executive producer alongside Felicia Pride as the showrunner.
The series was not only iconic, but groundbreaking and historic. During the original run of A Different World, HBCU enrollment rose by 26% between 1976 and 1994. The show also celebrated Black culture and college life, while also highlighting heavy topics such as racism, police brutality, sexual assault, apartheid and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Others joining the freshman class of Hillman College include criminal justice major, Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai), star quarterback Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), psych major Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall), Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece) and fashion merchandising student Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche).
If you’re a fan of the OG series, you’ll be happy to hear that your favorite Hillman alumi are also apart of the cast, including, Jasmine Guy (as Whitley Gilbert), Kadeem Hardison (as Dwayne Wayne), Cree Summer (as Freddie Brooks), Darryl M. Bell (as Ron Johnson), Charnele Brown (as Kimberly Reese), Jenifer Lewis (as Dorothy Dandridge Davenport), and Jada Pinkett Smith (as Lena James).
In an interview with Teen Vogue, showrunner Pride said that fans of the original A Different World weren’t ready for it to end, and hopes that the new series continues to build on the legacy of the OG series in a fresh, new way.
“I don’t think we were ready for [the original] to end after six seasons, because we could have kept up with Dwayne and Whitley’s life and these new characters. My hope is that the show is innately built to keep going—and that we have the opportunity to do so,” she said.
You can catch the new A Different World series on Netflix September 24, 39 years to the day of the debut of the original series.
