FRESH QUEEN

Original Aunt Viv Returning to ‘Bel-Air’ 32 Years Later

Janet Hubert is coming back to West Philadelphia at long last.

Janet Hubert, the actress who originally played Aunt Vivian in the ’90s sitcom hit The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is set to make a guest appearance in the fourth and final season of the franchise’s gritty reboot, Bel-Air. Peacock announced on Tuesday that Hubert, 69, will return to play a wise woman who assists Hilary (Coco Jones) and the Banks family in the upcoming season, which premieres Nov. 24. Hubert played a central role in the first three seasons of Fresh Prince as the aunt of Will Smith, the character, before being replaced by Daphne Reid. Hubert blamed Will Smith, the actor and star of Fresh Prince, leading to a decades-long feud. The two actors publicly buried the hatchet in 2020, when they met for the HBO Max reunion for the show’s 30th anniversary. Hubert said she feuded with Smith because she was told he was the reason for her banishment, and she struggled afterwards, as she had just had a new baby. The pair apologized to each other at the end of the sit-down.