SPOILER ALERT: This article includes specific details about revival of A Different World.
The other day I made it my responsibility to teach a young Gen Z’er about the original A Different World and how it was a spin-off of The Cosby Show. I went into a full-on college lecture about how Lisa Bonet (aka Denise Huxtable) originally starred alongside Oscar winner Marisa Tomei in the sitcom, which was very different until the lovely Debbie Allen took over for season 2 and turned it into the iconic piece of television history that it is today. (Read my issue where I revisit the first season of A Different World)
Fast forward to 2026, and A Different World returns to Netflix with the majority of the original cast members and a new batch of co-eds navigating the halls of Hillman College, giving us a glimpse of HBCU life.
As revivals, reboots, reiterations, and regurgitations infest Hollywood, A Different World rolls the dice when it comes to trying to bring back the magic from a sitcom that gave us the mantra, “Relax! Relate! Release!” Revivals, more often than not, fall flat, or they do the bare minimum to satisfy the audiences. Or worse: audiences are just exhausted by them.
Anything with melanin will automatically have flavor by default, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be good. However, with Felicia Pride at the helm, I knew that A Different World would be in good hands.
I’ve seen Pride navigate her television career through series like Queen Sugar, Grey’s Anatomy, and Bel-Air. Then there was her fantastic short, Look Back At It, which just had me smitten. When they announced that Pride was going to be the showrunner of the revival of the series with thee Debbie Allen returning as EP, I was on board.
And what’s better, Allen returns as the all-knowing and eccentric Dr. Langhorne who taught Whitley Gilbert the aforementioned mantra of “Relax! Relate! Release!”
Jasmine Guy also reprises her role as the southern debutante alongside Kadeem Hardison, donning the signature flip glasses of Whitley’s husband, Dwayne Wayne, one more time.
Deborah is bougie like Whitley and has the scheming skills like Dwayne — and her heart is golden just like theirs. After her acceptance to NYU is rescinded, she semi-begrudgingly attends Hillman as a legacy and makes friends with her roommate Rashida (Alijah Kai), a no-nonsense criminal justice major who couldn’t be any more different than she is. She also befriends Amir (Jordan Aaron Hall), a wise-cracking psych major who is good at fixing everyone else’s problems except his own; Hazel(Kennedi Reece), a wide-eyed small-town church girl; and Kojo (Chibuikem Uche), a smooth-talking Ghanaian‑Nigerian fashion entrepreneur who has a thing for Rashida.
Then there is Shaquille (Cornell Young IV), the soft-spoken, sensitive big man on campus and five‑star athlete who is learning to keep his ego in check. Deborah has a history with him, and he happens to be Ron’s (original cast member Darryl M. Bell returns!) son.
Gen Xers and Millennials will be giddy as they will clock original cast members throughout the season, whether they are mentioned or show up on screen. Cree Summer brings back the hippie energy of Freddie to Hillman, while Charnele Brown returns as Kimberly to see her daughter (Raven Goodwin), who is now a professor at Hillman. We also have the new addition of Method Man as Coach Coles.
Other cameos include Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa, Glynn Turman as Colonel Taylor, Jada Pinkett-Smith as Lena, and even Ajai Sanders and Karen Malina White return as gossip queens Gina and Charmaine. There is also a moment when Whitley pays a visit to the man she left at the altar for Dwayne: Byron (Joe Morton). The series also honored the late Lou Meyers, who played Mr. Gaines, who managed The Pit, and Hillman wouldn’t be anything without Dean Davenport (Queen Jenifer Lewis).
If you listen closely, you will hear a moment when Jaleesa mentions an affair with Walter (played by Sinbad in the original series). Shaquille also talks about the death of his mother. When we see a picture of her, it turns out to be Jaclyn (played by Halle Berry), who dated — and epically dumped Ron in season 4 of the original series… but I guess they got back together! At one point, Lena mentions her big-time superstar athlete husband Dorian, who was played by Bumper Robinson.
Netflix will debut all 10 episodes of the revival on September 24 — the same exact day it premiered in 1987. With a beloved sitcom in her hands, Pride had quite an undertaking to translate a classic and make it appealing to a new generation while keeping A Different World loyalists satisfied.
There will always be a blueprint to follow when it comes to shows set in college. Series like Felicity, Grown-ish, Dear White People, Sex Lives of College Girls, Greek, Undeclared, and even Community — they all share similar DNA with A Different World. These series are set in college, a very formative time in people’s lives. It’s a place where people get made… and for some, unmade.
The new iteration of A Different World feels right. It feels like I’m watching the original. I connect with the material, and it’s just nice to see people who are melanated on the screen, having a good time and living their best lives — especially these days.
As I watched this new, highly produced and gorgeous version of a show I grew up on, I really craved the artificiality of a TV studio set. I missed the laughter of a studio audience. There was a comfort knowing that I was watching a TV show.
Netflix brings a new 2026 version of A Different World complete with a new version of the theme song courtesy of our favorite Cinderella, Brandy. (That’s one complaint I have: I really wish they had a fun opening credits sequence like the original. Remember when the cast of grown-ish did it? This gorgeous cast should do it too!). It’s sleek and suitable for streaming with no laugh track… and Dwayne says “fuck” in an episode! GASP!
The series starts to embody the spirit of the original in episode 3 — and not just because Jaleesa and Colonel Taylor pay a visit to Hillman. It’s the same episode where Deborah hatches a plan to get Summer Walker (who appears as herself) to perform at Hillman. It’s also the same episode where Gina and Charmaine pop up for the first time. We also find out that Whitley and Dwayne are separated.
Like many other college TV shows before it, A Different World has a group of co-eds on a journey of self-discovery — but through an HBCU lens. With that come stories about messy relationships, break-ups, make-ups, and in one particular episode there’s a chlamydia outbreak among the Hillman dorms, and Amir teaches the men a valuable lesson in PrEP, Doxy Pep, and getting tested regularly for STIs and HIV. Seriously…virus outbreaks are a popular storyline in college-set TV shows. I specifically remember an episode of Felicity where everyone in the dorm caught mono.
Academic woes, career anxiety, money issues, social class — all of these have been popular themes explored in college TV series, including the new Different World revival.
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And credit where credit is due, Guy, Hardison, Summer, Bell, and the rest of the OG Different World cast did not miss a single beat from where they left their characters in 1993. It is quite enjoyable. As they pass the torch to the new class, Moon, Kai, Hall, Reece, Uche, and Young honor the space the Hillman alums have created by learning from and building on it.
A Different World thoughtfully uses college legacy, heritage, culture, and community as a driving force of the narrative rather than having to rely on nostalgia to prop it up. Although it keeps the spirit of the original, it doesn’t add anything new to the college TV genre. It’s not attempting to reinvent the wheel. It’s simply adding another spoke — and that spoke is a delight.
After 39 years, Hillman College feels the same — but they just added smartphones, the internet, social media, and the evolution of identity politics into the mix.
