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The Different World sequel project is getting a different deal at Netflix: one of the streamer’s only pilot orders.
Netflix has given the green light to a pilot episode for the project, with a plan to start shooting this summer, Variety reports. The publication adds Netflix wants to get a sense of the show’s tone and the chemistry between the cast members — who haven’t been locked in at press time — before committing to a series order.
It’s a rare move for the streaming giant, which only ordered its first pilot just two years ago. These developments notwithstanding, a source tells Variety that Netflix won’t be engaging in a pilot season like that of the broadcast TV industry.
The new project will continue the story of A Different World, a spinoff of The Cosby Show that aired six seasons on NBC between 1987 and 1993.
Set at the historically Black institution Hillman College, A Different World initially focused on Lisa Bonet’s Denise Huxtable. But after Bonet left the show after Season 1 — she was pregnant with Zoë Kravitz at the time — the focus turned to the on-off relationship between Jasmine Guy’s Whitley Gilbert and Kadeem Hardison’s Dwayne Wayne.
A Different World is also credited with spurring a 26-percent increase in enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities during its television run, according to TODAY.com.
“Every day, someone will say, ‘I went to an HBCU because I watched A Different World. I’m a doctor, I’m a lawyer, I’m an engineer because I watched A Different World,’” cast member Darryl M. Bell told TODAY in 2024. “It’s the most rewarding part of the work we’ve done.”
The sequel series, which first made headlines in August 2024, would return to Hillman and follow the story of Whitley and Dwayne’s daughter, according to Variety.
Felicia Pride is the sequel series’ as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the project. Debbie Allen, a producer of the original series and the director of more than half of its episodes, is back as an executive producer, alongside Mandy Summers, Tom Werner, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Reggie Bythewood.
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Originally published on tvinsider.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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