'A Different World' Reboot Trailer Showcases HBCU Culture

Historically Black colleges and universities have been educating young Black students for almost 200 years. But in the late 80s, the classic TV show A Different World brought new and heightened attention to HBCUs, airing for six seasons from 1987 to 1993.

Stars Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison anchored the NBC sitcom, a spinoff of The Cosby Show that focused on the culture at HBCUs at fictional Hillman College set in Atlanta. Over the six seasons, their characters, Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne, fell in love and got married.

Netflix announced the show’s reboot for new audiences back in March 2025, and it received a full series order by November.

Tony-winning actress Maleah Joi Moon plays Deborah Wayne, Whitley and Dwayne’s daughter, and the new series follows her journey starting as a freshman at Hillman. Felicia Pride is the showrunner, and Debbie Allen, one of the show’s original producers and directors, will do the same for the reboot.

Guy and Hardison are recurring characters, and other OG cast members who return for the reboot are Cree Summer as Freddie, Jada Pinkett Smith as Lena James, Darryl M. Bell as Ron Johnson, Glynn Turman as Col. Bradford Taylor and Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor.

The ten-episode first season dropped its trailer on Monday. It shows Moon as Deborah in her advisor’s office getting some insight into college life. Allen, in a comical wig, plays the advisor, Dr. Langhorne.

The trailer opens with Jenifer Lewis intoning, “Welcome to Hillman, the most preeminent HBCU in the country,” as the camera shows the school’s opening gates. Set to a soundtrack that includes old school songs from KC and the Sunshine Band and The Sounds of Blackness, it shows HBCU life through sororities and fraternities on campus.

“Baby, why are you here?” Allen asks.

“My parents have been pushing Hillman since before they knew my name. I want to prove to them I can crush it,” Deborah says, before meeting her new roommate, Rashida, played by Alijah Kai, the daughter of actress Tichina Arnold and music producer Carvin Haggins.

After announcing she’s from Compton, leading to a “Watch her,” warning from her mother, more characters are introduced, including Shaquille (Cornell Young IV) a love interest for Deborah who is her parent’s classmate Ron’s son, and one for Rashida, Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche) who hails from the U.K. Amir (Jordan Aaron Hall) and Hazel (Kennedi Reece) round out the main cast.

At the trailer’s end, Dr. Langhorne tells Deborah, “I’ll tell you like I told your mother, you’ve got to relax, relate and release!”

Moon, 23, won her Tony for Hell’s Kitchen, portraying the lead character, Ali, in the musical loosely based on creator Alicia Keys’ life. Kai, 22, is not the only nepo baby associated with the series – the late Jesse’s Jackson’s youngest daughter, Ashley, is in the writer’s room.

“It was important to craft a character who’s trying to figure it out, who’s a little messy, who’s a little all over the place because this is a character that a lot of young people can relate to,” Pride says. “[Deborah’s] going to find her way, and even in Season 1, we start to see that.”

See social media reaction to the first preview of the reboot below.