Considering actor Will Smith isn’t starring in the series, the Bel-Air reboot begs the question of why the main character is still named Will Smith. While The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air wasn’t based on Will Smith’s life, with the only real connections being his West Philadelphia background, the 1990s sitcom made the protagonist a fictionalized version of himself with the same name. Similar to how Seinfeld made its protagonist a semi-fictionalized version of Jerry Seinfeld, Fresh Prince created a largely fictional life and story for Will Smith’s character compared to his real life, which made it curious as to why they kept his real name in the first place.
Peacock’s Bel-Air is a dramatic reimagining of The Fresh Prince’s 1990s sitcom, with the reboot beginning with Will’s fight in Philadelphia that sends him to Bel-Air. Every major character in Bel-Air shares the name of their 1990s counterparts but is portrayed by a new actor, including Jabari Banks playing Will Smith, Adrian Holmes as Uncle Phil, and Olly Sholotan as Carlton Banks. While the names and general storyline stay the same, Bel-Air’s serious reboot changes the personalities and characterizations of the original figures, making it feel like a new show entirely.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s protagonist Will Smith was portrayed by Will Smith, but this is not the case for Peacock’s original series. While the reboot could have easily kept the name Will but changed the protagonist’s surname, Bel-Air keeps the name Will Smith. Since the names of every other returning Fresh Prince character remains the same, Bel-Air keeping Will Smith’s name is mostly a point of continuity. It may become confusing for viewers if every other character like the very different Phil and Carlton still have the same last name, but Will has a new one, which would possibly suggest that it’s an entirely new character. While the character’s personality is slightly different in Bel-Air, Will Smith is still the same figure from the original sitcom, even though his actor is no longer the real Will Smith.
Getting around the issues with using the likeness of Will Smith without the actor still portraying the character, Bel-Air is co-developed by actor Will Smith. There would likely be certain issues about the ethics of using someone else’s personage without their involvement, but Bel-Air being co-created by Will Smith with Morgan Cooper supports the fact that the reboot is the same original story but told in a more comprehensive way that it couldn’t in the 1990s sitcom format. Had Bel-Air's dramatic reboot been a revival instead, the Will Smith name likely still would have been used anyways. While Will Smith’s is persona is still embedded in the reboot, Bel-Air made a significant change by dropping “The Fresh Prince” from the title, which originally came from Smith’s musical stage name.
Bel-Air continuing to use Will Smith’s name still repeats some of the fictional oddities of the original series when constructing Will’s family. Since the fictional Will was raised by his mother, her last name was Smith as well, with his Aunt Viv also having the maiden name Smith. The most significant difference between the real Will Smith’s name and the show’s version that separates the two as a fictional story is that in the show, Will is short for “William,” while in real-life Smith’s nickname is short for “Willard.”
Fresh Prince’s original show decided to use Will Smith’s real name because Smith already had name recognition from his music career, plus Smith and Carlton actor Alfonso Ribeiro realized they would be called by their characters’ names for eternity if the show became a hit. As such, Will Smith’s character having the same name as the actor worked to enhance the notoriety of his celebrity status, with no confusion between his character name and real name. This does pose a problem for Bel-Air’s reboot, as Jabari Banks will now become known as Will Smith, which could become very confusing when differentiating between conversations about the real eponymous actor or character.