Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Bel-Air.
Bel-Air’s finale went out with a bang.
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The Peacock reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air shockingly featured a major star from the hit sitcom.
Season 4 of Bel-Air premiered on Nov. 24 and officially concluded on Monday. Throughout its run, the series has brought back numerous Fresh Prince favorites such as Daphne Maxwell Reid, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Tatyana Ali, Joseph Marcell, Tyra Banks, and Janet Hubert, among others. While there were a number of stars that weren’t able to appear, the longer the show went on, the less likely that Will Smith would make a cameo despite being an executive producer on Bel-Air.
Luckily, fans were treated to a fun surprise in the final moments of the finale, when Smith appeared alongside Bel-Air star Jabari Banks, who took up the Will Smith mantle. Writer, showrunner, and executive producer Carla Banks Waddles told Deadline how challenging it was to make the surprise cameo happen and how it finally worked out.
“When we pitched the season out early from the writers’ room, he was a part of it,” Banks Waddles explained. “We were like, ‘This is the season. We want him in the finale, and we know he wants to do the show. We’ve always wanted him on the show, and now’s the time, because there’s no more show after this.’ But we didn’t know if it would happen because of his schedule and everything.”
“We found out about two weeks before that he’s going to be able to get back to the States and do it. As you can imagine, he’s got an uber-busy schedule,” she continued. “We had days when we had given up hope, and others where we were like, could it be? I’m just glad that it worked out.”
As for who Smith portrays, it’s not being revealed, but Banks Waddles shared they were “leaving it open to interpretation and imagination.” She said, “Was someone there? Is it Santa Claus? We don’t know. I love for it to be open to interpretation. The cast probably has their own version of what they think it is. But this advice of talking to your future self and having that be a gift of what you see yourself to be, and that it’s all gonna come together. It’s gonna be a little messy, it’s gonna be a little bumpy. Life is gonna life, but it’s gonna be okay.”
Fans can watch all episodes of Bel-Air now on Peacock and come up with their own interpretation of the finale. Meanwhile, all seasons of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as well as the Fresh Prince reunion special, are on HBO Max.