#Fresh prince series

In Bel-Air, the cousins’ friendly rivalry isn’t all that friendly. Thankfully, Bel-Air readily provides a multi-layered insight into its bad guy’s origins.Įven more striking than Carlton’s eye roll-inducing politics is his ongoing conflict with Will ( Jabari Banks), which is revealed to be so much more layered than what we got to unpack in Fresh Prince. Every story needs a villain, and, for better or for worse, Carlton is ours.

#Fresh prince series

The writing on the new series takes Carlton’s worst traits from the OG, magnifies them, and frames them within a modern context. If Bel-Air intends to evoke a similar warmness in its audience towards the character of Carlton, it’s going to take a lot of character development because this version is - without mincing words - insufferable. Carlton was a piece of work, but ultimately, he was also a good person and someone worth rooting for. Eventually, however, we grew to truly love Carlton underneath his prickly, uppity demeanor was an adorable affinity for Tom Jones, a fierce love for his family, and a heart of gold. Uptight and kind of annoying, he was clearly a foil to his cousin Will’s ( Will Smith) happy-go-lucky, cool persona. When we first encountered Carlton (brought to life by Alfonso Ribeiro) in the 1990s, he was a spoiled rich kid and a tryhard with a superiority complex.