The cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” often gets asked about the prospect of reviving the iconic ’90s sitcom. But Alfonso Ribeiro maintains that without his late co-star James Avery, there is no show.
In an interview with PeopleTV’s “Chatter” this week, Ribeiro, who played Carlton on the show, once again shut down speculation over whether more “Fresh Prince” was on the horizon.
Ribeiro insisted that bringing back the sitcom would be “impossible” ― or at least “very unlikely” ― without Avery, who played Will Smith’s strait-laced Uncle Phil on the show. Avery died in 2013.
“I think it’s impossible with James Avery being gone,” he said. “Do we really want to see Will and Carlton in their, you know, 40s and 50s?”
He later added: “James Avery, right, he’s actually the most important character on the show. ... Without him, everything that Will and Carlton did would mean nothing.”
This was certainly not the first time the man who gave the world the “Carlton Dance” was asked about bringing back the beloved series.
Ribeiro, host of ABC’s “America’s Funniest Videos,” shared similar sentiments in 2014:
“I don’t think we feel as a cast that we would do even our fans justice by trying to make something that we all felt like [Avery] was the centerpiece [of] ― he was the nucleus of that show. Without him, it just doesn’t work.”
Smith, whose “Fresh Prince” character shared his real name, has also repeatedly shut down hopes of resurrecting his small-screen persona.
In an interview with E! Red Carpet & Live Events in 2016, the “Fresh Prince” himself said it would happen “pretty close to when hell freezes over.”