Coco Jones is ready for her close-up as she returns to the set of Peacock’s Bel-Air as Hilary Banks. As season three premieres on August 15, the GRAMMY Award winner says she’s received the official stamp of approval from the original Hilary Banks — Karyn Parsons.
“We had this great conversation, and she told me that she’s normally very picky, but that she loves my interpretation of Hilary. She gave me her thumbs-up of approval, which was so cool,” Jones said about a recent conversation with Parsons.
Not only did Jones have the opportunity to speak with Parsons of the original show, but she’s also finding similarities between her life and that of the show’s original star — Will Smith. Like Smith, Jones musical career took off with the release of her breakout project, What I Didn’t Tell You, and won her first GRAMMY Award while starring on the show. During a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Jones explained that she could a few similarities between herself and the legendary entertainer.
“Will and I are similar in the regard of being actors and balancing our music careers with our TV shows, so I really respect him,” Jones said about her recent opportunity to share the performance stage with Smith.
“It was a fun opportunity to promote a great show and great art.”
On screen and off screen, Jones says the show does a great job of building bridges between the original series and the reimagined edition led by Morgan Cooper, Malcolm Spellman, TJ Brady, and Rasheed Newson.
“Bel-Air does a great job of putting amazing OGs in the show and finding new ways to spin everything. It’s like a way of reinforming the new generation of who has come before us and what has really brought us to this show,” Jones told Mia Berry of Andscape.
“Even with the entire plot and premise of our show, some fans are younger, and this is the first taste they have of all of these characters and this premise and plot. So, it’s continuing to inform the younger generations. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was such a classic that it spanned so many decades, so hopefully, Bel-Air will do the same.”
