March 30, 2025
Netflix Orders Rare Pilot For ‘A Different World’ Sequel
The pilot for the sequel marks only the second time that the streaming giant has ordered a pilot.
Netflix has greenlit a pilot for A Different World, a sequel to the 1987 sitcom that starred Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison as Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne. The new series will follow their daughter’s experiences at an HBCU.
According to Deadline, the sequel pilot marks only the second time the streaming giant has ordered a pilot. The vast majority of its shows are produced in a straight-to-series manner, which means that, unlike network television, they (and, by extension, other major streamers) order an entire season sans a traditional pilot episode.
Per Deadline‘s sources, the pilot is a one-off, not a sign of a strategy shift from Netflix. The show comes with its own heavy hitters attached to the production side: writer/executive producer and showrunner Felicia Pride and executive producers Debbie Allen, Mandy Summers, Tom Werner, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Reggie Bythewood are all responsible for the sequel.
The Bythewoods, Allen, and Werner are all veterans of the original series, and Allen is reportedly reprising her role as the director of the sequel, which she held for the entirety of the original series.
The original 1987 series was a spinoff of “The Cosby Show” and was supposed to follow the character Lisa Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and her classmates at Hillman College, a fictional HBCU.
However, Bonet left after one season following her pregnancy (and at the request of Bill Cosby, the show’s creator, who reportedly didn’t want a young, unwed mother on the series), and the show pivoted toward an ensemble cast that prominently featured Hardison, Guy, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell, Sinbad, Cree Summer, and Glynn Turman.
However, although the original series focused on Hillman, it is currently unknown whether or not the sequel will remain focused on Hillman or will focus on another yet-to-be-determined HBCU.
As Variety reported in August 2024, the series will somewhat resemble Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” a reboot of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” on which Pride was a supervising producer during Season 3 of the series.
It is also unknown how much Cosby is connected to the sequel following his release from prison in 2021, but the reactions to the news of the show on social media have spawned fan casts and some amount of trepidation mixed with excitement as there are currently no roles filled on the show.
According to Deadline, the show is looking to film the pilot in Atlanta in June, but to do that, it will have to quickly fill uncast roles.
It’s A Different World indeed.
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