Back in August, rumors that Will Smith is producing a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot sent every 90s kid's hopes soaring. Would Fresh Prince follow Nickelodeon's example? Would the show that meant so much to us return to entertain and inspire another generation? Alas, according to Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks, the answer is no.
"It's not exciting to me because I know it ain't gonna happen," Ribeiro toldHuffington Post. "And if it happened, it wouldn't be Fresh Prince. It would be something that's taking the story of the show and having all new people do something. To me, that's not Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Is Will Smith starring in it? No. Then it ain't no Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
To Ribeiro, even if the whole cast were reunited, it still be wouldn't worth doing a reboot without James Avery, a.k.a. Uncle Phil, who passed away in 2013. "James Avery passed, and he was the backbone of that show," Ribeiro said. "Without him, we have no show."
Ribeiro isn't necessarily a fan of the nostalgia trend; in fact, he thinks there's no reason to remake Fresh Prince. "All you can do is mess it up," he said. "You're not gonna make it better! So don't mess it up. Let's let history be history." Per Ribeiro's view, fans of the show will have to content themselves with eternal reruns.
