It’s the beginning of the end for one of Peacock’s best original shows. Ever since launching in April 2020, the NBCUniversal streamer has released some great original series, earning a place alongside other original content powerhouses like Netflix and HBO Max. From Poker Face to Twisted Metal, The Office spinoff The Paper, and more, Peacock’s original lineup has continuously impressed and entertained. The streamer has been busy crossing titles off the November newsletter, and one of Peacock’s best original series yet just returned with its final season.
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Bel-Air Season 4 premiered on Peacock on November 24th. Three episodes of the fourth and final season are now available to stream on the platform, with two more episodes set to drop on December 1st, followed by the three final episodes on December 8th. The series premiered back in 2022 as a reboot and reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, with Jabari Banks taking over the role of Will Smith, a teen from West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air.
Bel-Air Is One of Peacock’s Best Shows
Bel-Air had some pretty high standards to live up to following the cultural phenomenon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the ‘90s, but it managed to beat the reboot curse. Rather than being a copy-and-paste replica of the original, the series used the original premise as a foundation for a new reimagining of the story that successfully brought the beloved characters into the modern day, allowing it to appeal to long-time fans and newer audiences. The transition from a half-hour sitcom into an hour-long drama allows the show to take the original’s one-off dramatic moments and expand them into character-driven storylines and deeper explorations of contemporary social issues like race, class, and identity with nuanced discussions and plotlines.
Bel-Air has been an incredible success for Peacock. The series helped put the streamer’s original content on the map after the series became Peacock’s most-streamed original series following its premiere in 2022. The series reached eight million accounts within just a few weeks of its debut, with Peacock later revealing that the sitcom “shattered every Peacock record for new subscribers, usage, and upgrades.” The show maintained a stronger fan base in the seasons that followed and has been a critical success. Bel-Air holds an overall 85% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and its critic score has risen with every season. Season 3 even earned a perfect 100% rating.
Why Is Bel-Air Ending With Season 4?
Peacock announced that it was renewing Bel-Air for a fourth and final season in December 2024, just months after Season 3 wrapped. The streamer didn’t provide a reason for its decision to conclude the show two seasons short of the original series’ six-season run, but Deadline reported that there were “behind-the-scenes budget conversations” prior to the fourth season renewal announcement, which may also explain the season’s shorter episode count. Whereas the first three seasons each had 10 episodes, Season 4 only consists of eight episodes. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a natural end for the show, as showrunner Carla Banks-Waddles teased, per The Wrap, “It’s been a four-year journey. It feels like it’s time to graduate.”
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