Will Smith Teases Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion on Instagram

The “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is celebrating 30 years since its premiere with an unscripted special scheduled for around Thanksgiving on HBO Max. Will Smith shared a glimpse of the moment with two reunion shots on his Instagram, and the second one certainly got everyone’s attention. In it, Smith could be seen laughing and smiling with former co-star Janet Hubert.

For those not in the know, this is a huge deal. The original Aunt Viv on the series, Hubert famously left the show after three seasons due to her very public dislike of its leading man, a dislike she has echoed in the intervening years. In fact, as recently as 2011, Hubert said that she would never participate in a reunion as she will never do anything with an a**hole like Smith, calling him an egomaniac who has not grown up.

This reunion will never happen in Hubert’s lifetime unless there is an apology, which Smith does not know the word. The first image featured Smith, Tatyana Ali, Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and even DJ Jazzy Jeff. Smith included a tribute to the late James Avery, who played his Uncle Phil. The reunion is an unscripted special for “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”‘s anniversary slated for HBO Max by Thanksgiving.

While it is not yet clear how the reunion will be structured, it looks like at the very least fans will get to see Will Smith and Hubert hopefully talk things out.

At the time of her departure, Smith suggested that ego was a factor, joking in interviews that Hubert wanted it to be the “Aunt Viv of Bel-Air” show. Hubert has insisted that simply was not true, insisting she was always a professional on the set. In 2016, Hubert said that at least part of the problem was that Smith was not willing to help the rest of the cast fight for more in their contract negotiations, purportedly telling them, “My deal is my deal, and y’alls deal is y’alls deal.”

As recently as 2009 Hubert was asking Smith, through his manager, to at least be honest about her behavior on set after he has smeared her in the press all those years ago. Hopefully, this conversation between the two can be healing as Hubert was a huge part of the success of “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. Certainly fans were thrilled to see Hubert represented, getting “Aunt Viv” trending on Twitter in their excitement.