With talk of a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot on the horizon, we just can't get enough behind-the-scenes stories of the show. While Will Smith has gone on to become one of the biggest movie stars and celebrities on the planet, he'll still always be that kid from "west Philidelphia, born and raised". So, we just can't wait for him to return to the character, even though the reboot tragically won't feature Uncle Phil. Seriously, we'll never forget some of the touching moments between Will and Uncle Phil. It's sad we'll never see anymore.
But times have changed...
Luckily for Will, he won't have to do too much work to return to his famous sitcom character. After all, he was based on him and even shared his first and last name... And there's a very specific reason for that. A reason that many Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fans may be completely unaware of it.
So, what is it?
Will Pulled Back The Curtains On The Graham Norton Show
Will Smith is a regular guest of Britain's Graham Norton Show. After all, the chat show is very much his rhythm, despite being the biggest late-night show in the UK. It was there that Will shed light on why he chose to keep his real name for the now-iconic NBC show which started in 1990 and ran for 6 seasons.
A couple of years ago, the topic came up when Graham Norton was discussing Will's incredible rise to fame and the success that he's enjoyed since his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air days.
"It's incredible given that you have this phenomenal film career that Fresh Prince doesn't go away," Graham said.
Will smiled charmingly at this and said, "In every country in the world, that is the thing that I am most known for. No matter how big the movies get. It's the Fresh Prince everywhere."
He then went on to say that "as long as they're screaming 'Will!' I'm cool."
"It's funny because Alfonso Ribeiro, who plays Carlton... When we first started the show, we were trying to come up with names for the characters. And we were going through it and we're talking about it. And Alfonso pulled me aside, he said, 'Man, let me tell you something.' He said, 'Whatever your character's name is, people are going to call you that for the rest of your life'..."
This is when Alfonso Ribeiro told the Independence Day star to call his character "Will Smith".
Unfortunately, Alfonso didn't take that advice for himself. Whenever he and Will go out, people are shouting Will's name... and Carlton's...
When Will Smith told this to Graham Norton, the British chat show host laughed and said, "but 'Carlton' is better than 'Alfonso'..."
Graham joked that maybe Alfonso Ribeiro wanted to be called Carlton instead as it was a far superior name.
Guess we'll never know for sure.
The Previous Thought About Why Will Chose To Keep His Name Was Slightly Different
Just recently, Will Smith re-confirmed this story when he did a Snapchat Show, Will From Home, during the first part of the 2020 quarantine. The show turned into a bit of a Fresh Prince reunion as Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid and DJ Jazzy Jeff all showed up.
As did Carlton himself, Alfonso Ribeiro.
Alfonso also took the time to back up this claim about the origin of Will's name on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
But the previous thought was slightly different.
If you look at Reddit feeds, Wikipedia, and other sources, fans once believe there was a different reason for the shared name. First off, the character was supposedly based on Will in real life, so the shared name made some sense. Although the character and the real-life Will only have rough and superficial connections. Not to mention, the "Will" on The Fresh Prince was short for "William", while "Will" in real life is short for "Willard".
On top of this, fans thought that Will chose to keep his name as some sort of business move. As if it were a ploy to market himself, his music, and his potential movie career while starring on a sitcom... Not unlike what Roseanne, Jerry Seinfeld, and later Larry David all did.
But that seems to be a massive over-exaggeration. While it certainly worked out in Will's favor, the truth was decidedly more practical as opposed to an almost machiavellian business decision.
What's nice about all of this is the fact that Will is happy to give credit to Alfonso for coming up with this rather brilliant and life-changing choice.
Hey, that's what cousins are for!
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