By Samantha Smith
After nearly 40 years, we’re returning to Hillman College when the A Different World reboot premieres September 24 on Netflix.
The ten-episode comedy series follows Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon), the youngest daughter of Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy), as she enters Hillman as a freshman and navigates her own path amid her parents’ legacy at the school.
New cast members of Hillman include Rashida (Alijah Kai), Kojo (Chibuikem Uche), Shaquille (Cornell Young IV), Amir (Jordan Aaron Hall) and Hazel (Kennedi Reece).
“It is such an honor to be part of bringing back this iconic show, one that I grew up on and which had a profound impact on my life,” said Felicia Pride, showrunner and executive producer of the reboot.
“I am so proud of the work we’re doing to reimagine A Different World for beloved fans and new generations alike,” Pride said to Tudum.
Returning castmates from the original series are also returning to Hillman. In addition to Dwayne and Whitley, alumni in the new reboot include Ron Johnson (Darryl M. Bell), Freddie Brooks (Cree Summers), Dr. Kimberly Reese Boyer (Charnele Brown), Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor (Dawnn Lewis) and Colonel Bradford Taylor (Glynn Turman).
Debbie Allen, the original series director, has returned to the reboot series as executive director and directed the reboot’s premiere episode.
“There couldn’t be a better time than now to reboot A Different World,” says Allen to Tudum. “Our show changed lives, tripled the enrollment of historically black colleges and gave a strong voice and platform for Young Black America.”
The original series, A Different World, was a spinoff of The Cosby Show and aired from 1987 to 1993. It followed Denise Huxtable, played by Lisa Bonet, as a sophomore at Hillman College. While Bonet left the show after the first season, the show continued and gained popularity when Allen joined the show as a series director.
Considered ahead of its time, A Different World touched on various issues such as interracial dating, AIDS, Black political activism and colorism. Met with comedy, the show touched on important social issues of Black youth, the importance of education and the unique experience of attending an historically Black college.
Allen credits her time at her alma mater, Howard University, as the “blueprint for A Different World,” bringing characters to our screen like Kimberly Reese, Freddie Brooks and Vernon Gaines (Lou Myers).
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, HBCU enrollment increased 26% between 1986 to 1994, a period that overlapped with most of A Different World on air.
“Not a day goes by, for all of us who were involved in the show, where someone doesn’t come up to us and say, ‘I went to an HBCU because I watched A Different World,’” said Bell to CNN.
Nearly four decades later, the world and television have changed since we first went to Hillman. The question is whether the reboot can capture the heart of the original while giving the new generation its own voice.
“I’m always a little conflicted about reboots, especially when the original was such an impactful cultural moment for so many,” said Cicily Smith, a Spelman College alum based in Atlanta. “But I think it’s an important narrative to draw forward.”
“We are at a crossroads. We’ve witnessed a shift in education, especially among men and men of color specifically alongside the diminishing of women’s rights,” said Smith. “I think there is a unique opportunity here to have some important conversations play out in an open forum such as this.”
For viewers of the original series, the reboot and original cast will have us in a wave of nostalgia. Nearly 40 years later, the reboot allows us to witness a new group of students walk through Hillman’s gates with their own experiences, challenges and questions.
The show doesn’t have to look the same way as it did in 1987. But it does need to continue to keep the heart of what made the show great in the first place – giving Black youth a place to see themselves, battle with the challenges of the world and imagine who they want to be.
If the reboot can inspire this generation to see an HBCU experience as important for their development as a person, the show will have achieved the success of its first run and more.
