Peacock is developing Hilary, a potential spinoff of Bel-Air centered on Coco Jones’ character. Deadline first broke the news. The series would mark Peacock’s first scripted original to spawn a spinoff.
According to Deadline, “After accepting an unexpected job offer from celebrity chef Yvonne Durand, Hilary Banks (Jones) impulsively moves to New York determined to prove herself beyond her Bel-Air connections — only to find that success, friendship and love in the city come with a cost she never anticipated.”
Deadline notes the premise charts a different path than Bel-Air‘s series finale, which saw Hilary move back to Los Angeles from Costa Rica to open her own cafe, and instead more closely echoes The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s finale, in which Hilary also relocated to New York.
Tracy Oliver, who is new to the franchise, writes the series. Jones and Oliver executive produce alongside Will Smith, Terence Carter, David Boorstein and Miguel Melendez of Westbrook Studios, Benny Medina, Andy Borowitz, Susan Borowitz, Morgan Cooper, the Jeff Pollack trust and the Quincy Jones estate. The project comes from Westbrook Studios and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, the studios behind Bel-Air.
Jones, who is also an acclaimed R&B star, recently appeared in Malcolm D. Lee’s Strung on Peacock, and has the upcoming romantic comedy That’s Her soon.
Oliver became the first Black woman to write a film grossing more than $100 million with 2017’s Girls Trip, and her other feature Little, The Sun Is Also a Star and The Blackening, and she created and executive produced First Wives Club and Harlem. Her long to-do list also includes The Wedding Date, Girls Trip 2, The Blackening 2 and the holiday film Deck the Y’alls in the works, along with the series Paper Gods at Netflix and Not a Happy Family at Starz.
Bel-Air, the reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air based on Morgan Cooper’s fan film, wrapped its four-season run in December.
Featured image photo credit: Peacock
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