Jabari Banks talks season 2 of ‘Bel-Air,’ advice from Will Smith

So a little more than a year ago, our next guest made one of his first live TV appearances here on the third hour today. I just remember, well, we were like, oh my God, this kid is a star. It was just everything with his energy. Jabari Banks was just kicking off his career at the time as the star peacocks hit drama Bel Air. It puts a groundbreaking spin on the classic, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Now Jabari is back for round two this season. He's going to try to smooth things over with Lisa.

What's this? Hey girl, hey. Hey. How's it going? Good. Um, you think we can find a second to talk about our situation? I just don't like how we've been avoiding the whole issue between us. Well, I've been trying to give you your space since you're going through a lot. But, um, yeah, an actual conversation would be cool. Cool.

Jabari is back. Welcome back. Good to see you. Hi. Hi. Hi, man. This is great.

First of all, this show was a staple in my house. So we're just wanting to be here with you all. Happy to hear that. Thank you. Don't watch too much television. It's not good for your health. That's what I can't see now.

Yeah, exactly. Uh, season one was a huge hit. Oh my gosh. Tell us where season two picks up. Right. So season two picks up. Will is outside of the gates of Bel Air and he's living with jazz in South LA, right? And he's navigating, trying to find his freedom and trying to reconnect with his family.

And so it's a whole journey for season two. I'm super excited for people to check it out. I cannot wait. And you've got all these great stars in it. I mean, you've got Saweetie in there. You've got Tatiana Ali reprising her original role. So what was it like having Tatiana back on this show? Oh, it was so meta.

It was so meta. It was almost surreal. Like she was crying the whole time. Really? Because, you know, she grew up on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And so to see Akira Akbar like take on this role of Ashley, right? It was like a mirror of sorts. And so it was super surreal for her. But she was such a joy, such a sweetheart.

I can't wait for people to see it. I love it. I love the paper about how amazing the season two is and what you guys have been able to do with the original concept of the show. You know, speaking of the original class, Will Smith is an executive producer of Bel Air, one of the executive producers. And I read that he gave you some good advice as you started season two. Oh, yeah. Say.

For sure. Well, in between season one and season two, I kind of had a midlife crisis, a midseason crisis. Okay. In between season crisis. And so I was reading the book of The Alchemist. Okay. And we had a lot of great talks just about life.

And I was allowed to apply that to the role for season two. Is it tough to approach season two when season one was, listen, drop the mic. Like everybody's ready now. Right. Or before we didn't know what to expect. Now we come like. Exactly.

Well, you know, it's something about expectations. You know what I mean? And so I kind of have to throw that out the window and approach season two, how we approach season one from such a pure, you know what I mean? Yeah. A standpoint. And so that's kind of how we attacked it. Good. Are your parents watching right now? They are. I know.

Hello. Your parents are huge in this whole experience you've been going through. It was your dad we talked about when you were here the first time that actually told you there was a casting for this. Right. What do they think now going into season two and all your success? I mean, they're just over the moon. They're over the moon. And I'm so happy that I could give them this opportunity to kind of experience all of their hard work.

You know what I mean? That they put into me. So it's a blessing. It is a blessing. Jabara, I wanted to ask you, because last time you were here, I saw that you said, you wanted to have your own clothing line. You wanted to work on some music. You wanted to open an amusement park. How are you doing on all that? I'm a little bit closer to the first two.

But I'm still working on that. Me and Al, we're going to have a meeting after this. I love it. There you go. The roller coaster is going to be slab. We work on the Universal Studio a lot. So I've been studying up and kind of just going inside.

You called it the Rooker Coaster. The Rooker Coaster. No, I went out with Jabara here. You talked about there's some folks you would like to play going forward in feature films. Anybody come to mind? Yeah, I would love to play Sam Cooke. I can see that. Look at this.

I can see it. I mean the music and the activism. How about that? You know what? We know people around here. People listen. So maybe we'll put that in the universe. Look at that side by side. Look at that.

That's what it is. I'm going to go ahead and bring the music. It's a great job. I see it as well. You see it? Yeah. And bring me to the amusement park, please. So great to see you.

Congratulations on season two of Bell Air. It returns Thursday, February 23rd. Exclusively only on Peacock. The streaming service from our parent company, NBC Universal. And by the way, remember, you can also stream all four hours of today live on Peacock through your local NBC station. Congratulations Jabara. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

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