[Source: AP]

Olly Sholotan first realized that “Bel-Air” had stepped out the shadows of the beloved ‘90s sitcom starring Will Smith when a young boy approached him at a flea market after the show’s first season.

“He looked up at me and said ‘You are the first Black boy I’ve ever seen cry on TV,” recalled Sholotan, who plays Carlton Banks on the dramatized reboot of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

At a time when some questioned whether the reimagined series could stand apart from its sitcom roots, Sholotan said the encounter made him realize viewers were embracing the drama, allowing it to carve out its own identity.

“In that moment, I realized what the old idea of Carlton was,” he said. “This was something different.”

Such moments helped cement “Bel-Air” as one of Peacock’s most visible homegrown titles, expanding the possibilities for Black-led prestige television as the streamer worked to define its original programming slate.

The series returns Monday for its fourth and final season with the cast reflecting on its impact and the evolution of the characters who began the show “in the shadow of the original,” as actor Simone Joy Jones — who plays Lisa Wilkes — puts it.

“The culture really showed up for our show,” said Coco Jones, a Grammy-winning singer who stars as Hilary Banks. “I think people saw themselves in these characters. That’s carried all the way into this season.”

Behind the scenes, the show’s ambitions came with a price. Industry reports have cited high production costs as a key factor in the decision to end the series, which carried a long roster of executive producers including creator Morgan Stevenson Cooper, Will Smith, Terence Carter, James Lassiter, Miguel Melendez, Benny Medina, the late Quincy Jones and original sitcom creators Andy and Susan Borowitz. Some of them still receive compensation tied to the ’90s franchise.

Creative decisions often moved between the writers’ room, Westbrook Studios and Universal Television, contributing to a large-scale production rarely afforded to a young Black ensemble.

Showrunner Carla Banks Waddles said sustaining that scale required constant coordination.

“Every episode meant bringing all those people together under one vision,” she said. “It takes collaboration, communication and compromise.”

Still, Waddles said the team never viewed “Bel-Air” as an open-ended series.

“We never wanted to run on forever to the point where people asked, ‘Is that show still on?’” she said. “By the end of the series, audiences will feel like we told a complete story.”

Jabari Banks — who stars as Will — echoed that sentiment, saying the ending aligns with what the creators intended.

“From the start, we didn’t want to be a show that dragged on,” he said. “By the time you reach the end, it really does feel like a complete story. Four seasons of a great show, cover to cover.”

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