Plot: A Different World returns to Hillman College with a new class stepping onto campus — and beloved faces coming home. At the center is Deborah Wayne, Whitley and Dwayne’s lovingly sheltered youngest daughter, a free spirit with a flair for the spotlight and a big heart who’s still figuring out her own path at Hillman. Along the way, she’s joined by a new generation that reflects the breadth of Black life on campus
Review: Despite what Bill Cosby’s off-screen actions have done to his legacy, there is still a lot to appreciate in what The Cosby Show represents for an entire generation of audiences who came of age in the late 1980s. The college-set spin-off A Different World represented something else for those young viewers who grew up with Lisa Bonet as Denise left the Huxtable home and ventured to Hillman College. While Lisa Bonet departed the series after the first season, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, and Darryl M. Bell anchored the next five seasons on NBC. Now, thirty years after it ended, A Different World returns on Netflix with the children of some of the original characters matriculating at Hillman and embarking on their own coming-of-age journeys. The result is sure to be a nostalgic win for some viewers, but this new take on A Different World lacks some of the 1990s charm that made the original so much fun to watch.
Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon), the daughter of original series characters Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitney Gilbert (Jasmine Guy), is the main focus of the new class of students at Hillman College, the fictional Historically Black University (HBCU), which her parents attended. A troublemaker compared to her elder siblings, Deborah (pronounced Deb-Oh-Rah) comes to school with a shared romantic history with fellow freshman and football superstar Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), the son of original character Ron Johnson (Darryl M. Bell). Immediately, Deborah runs afoul of the administration when the federal government cuts grants that allowed many of the new students to attend Hillman, putting her in opposition to her mother as well as college president Professor Davenport (Jenifer Lewis). Throughout the first season, Deborah befriends new students like roommate Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai Haggins), Hazel (Kennedi Reece), as well as Amir (Jordan Aaron Hall), and Kojo (Chibuikem Uche).
The original series was a landmark in many ways, including being the first American network series to address HIV/AIDS and tackle race and equal rights, and the new series is no different. With the turbulent political climate of the last decade still impacting minorities, the repercussions of everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to ICE raids on college campuses factor into the story of this new generation of adults learning about the challenges of the real world within the realm of higher education. While the serious subject matter is handled respectfully, A Different World also focused on delivering some laughs blended in with the drama, along with a hefty dose of romance across the entire cast, including multiple triangles and a few quadrangles. The shift from a multi-camera sitcom to a single-camera approach gives this new series a more cinematic sheen, but the attempt to make things feel a little more polished doesn’t work to the same effect as it did with The Fresh Prince remake, Bel-Air. Maybe it is because that series was a remake rather than a sequel, Bel-Air felt distinct from the Will Smith sitcom, while this new A Different World is still directly connected to the 1987 series.
The ten half-hour episodes of A Different World move quickly and tell a season-long narrative that connects through every chapter with an almost equal focus on the original cast members who have returned as well as the new students. Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy are the most prominent returning cast members, followed by Darryl M. Bell and Cree Summer who returns as Freddie Brooks, now a professor at Hillman. There are many more returning favorites from the original series, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Ajai Sanders, Debbie Allen, Karen Malina White, Dawnn Lewis, Glynn Turman, and some surprises on screen and off that will please fans of the 1990s version. Unlike other recent reboot/sequel series that have brought back legacy cast, including Saved By The Bell, the prominent presence of Hardison and Guy helps salvage this series, which otherwise feels pretty by-the-numbers and not nearly as entertaining as the classic series.
Felicia Pride, who wrote for Queen Sugar, Grey’s Anatomy, and Bel-Air, serves as showrunner and scripted three episodes of A Different World alongside Des Moran, Lisa McQuillan, Howard Jordan Jr, Rashida Olayiwola, Ashley Laverne Jackson, Tasha Armstead, and Joel Armstead. Directing duties were handled by co-executive producer Debbie Allen on the premiere episode, with Tiffany Johnson helming three entries, Angela Barnes on two, Nefertite Nguva on two, and Bille Woodruff on two episodes. Netflix’s binge-release approach will work for fans who have waited decades for this series, as it is a quick watch but one that feels more than an extended movie rather than a season worth investing in, with the opening and final episodes the best of the bunch, and the tease for where season two could go is more promising than what actually happens in these episodes.
It was an almost impossible feat to deliver A Different World three decades after the original went off the air because we are living in a vastly different world now than where we were in 1987. Sure, the core problems teenagers face, as well as minorities, both in terms of gender, race, and sexuality, may be similar at their core. A Different World approached them with a sense of humor first and a dramatic lens second. This put audiences at ease before landing the dramatic perspective that really hit close to home. This new series is worth checking out to see the original cast reprising their famous characters rather than the vastly less interesting new generation. Maybe with the anchor of anticipation out of the way, there is a chance that season two of A Different World can come into its own, but other than the solid soundtrack and some well-placed callbacks to plot points from the original, the 2026 take is nowhere near as good as what inspired it.
A Different World is now streaming all episodes on Netflix.
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