Netflix is eyeing a return to Hillman College.
The streamer is in the early stages of development on a sequel series to A Different World, the 1987-93 NBC sitcom that was set at a historically Black university. The new project would center on the youngest daughter of Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), now a student at Hillman.
Netflix declined to comment.
The potential sequel comes from writer Felicia Pride (Grey’s Anatomy, Queen Sugar) and includes several members of the original show’s creative team, among them producer and director Debbie Allen, Tom Werner (whose Carsey-Werner produced A Different World), and writers Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood. They’ll all serve as executive producers on the project, along with Pride and Mandy Summers.
A Different World was a spinoff of The Cosby Show, following Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) to college at Hillman. Bill Cosby (who is not involved in the sequel) is credited as the show’s creator; Allen came aboard in the second season as part of a revamping that saw Bonet depart (she returned as a guest star in season three) and the focus shift to a broader ensemble that included Guy, Hardison, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell, Cree Summer, Charnele Brown, Glynn Turman, Sinbad and Lou Myers.
Should it move forward, the Different World sequel would join That ’90s Show as a second-generation sitcom at Netflix. Werner is also an EP of That ’90s Show, as Carsey-Werner was behind That ’70s Show in its initial run on Fox.
Deadline first reported the news.
