Fresh Prince star Tatyana Ali joins cast of Bel-Air season 2 – and fans are ecstatic to see original Ashley Banks return
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The cast of Bel-Air season 2 just became a whole lot fresher with the arrival of the one and only Tatyana Ali.
The actor first came to prominence as a child star on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air playing Ashley Banks, the youngest member of the Banks household and a cousin to Will Smith’s lead character.
Now more than 30 years after the sitcom first premiered, Tatyana is making a return to the world of Fresh Prince, but in an entirely new role.
Bel-Air, which made its debut last year, is a reimagined version of the original programme, with a far more dramatic tone as Jabari Banks takes the lead as a 16-year-old Will Smith.
Akira Akbar stars as the 12-year-old Ashley Banks – and in a new trailer for season two, it’s revealed that she’s going to come face to face with her predecessor.
Tatyana is set to play the role of Mrs Hughes, a middle school English teacher who urges Ashley to stay true to herself.
‘Never ever let anyone try to change you,’ she says while speaking to Ashley in the school hallway, as the young girl nods in response.
On Twitter, Tatyana celebrated her return to Fresh Prince by tweeting: ‘Cats out the bag 😉 There’s no going back now.’
Several fans were left in awe by the moment the two Ashleys came face to face.
‘The way they had Tatyana Ali aka The OG Ashley talking to New Ashley tho,’ one person commented on YouTube underneath the trailer, while another wrote: ‘Welcome back, Ashley!’
‘Season 2 goin to be crazy OG Tatyana Ali in the new season I’m ready for it that’s crazy,’ a particularly excited viewer wrote, while someone else remarked: ‘Return of Ashley OG.’
The Bel-Air Ashley face-off isn’t the first time in recent months that an actor has come face to face on screen with someone who previously played their role.
In the recently-released Wednesday series on Netflix, Jenna Ortega starred as the titular character, while Christina Ricci – who played Wednesday in the 1990s films The Addams Family and Addams Family Values – played a Nevermore Academy teacher called Miss Thornhill.
While it was brilliant to see Christina in an Addams Family-related show, it was revealed that there was more to her character than simply a brilliant cameo.
Bel-Air season 2 is due to premiere on February 23 on Peacock in the US, with the show available to watch on Sky and NOW in the UK.
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