The pilot for the sequel series to A Different World has cast six leads for its cast.

The series has cast One Of Us Is Lying alum Chibuikem Uche as Kojo and Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen star Maleah Joi Moon as Deborah, alongside Cornell Young as Shaquille, Jordan Aaron Hall as Amir, Alijah Kai (daughter of Tichina Arnold) as Rashida, and Kennedi McClure as Hazel.

Deadline broke the news of the castings, and Netflix declined to comment.

The project has a super rare pilot order at Netflix, as the streamer doesn’t usually order pilots. As we previously reported, since it started creating its own series, Netflix has notably only made straight-to-series orders and typically forgone the pilot process. This pilot is apparently just a one-off and not a strategy shift toward Netflix producing more pilots.

Details of the ‘A Different World’ sequel series pilot

Of the pilot, Variety previously reported, “The plan is [to] shoot the pilot at the beginning of the summer to get a better sense of the show’s tone and of the chemistry among the ensemble cast…an individual with knowledge of the situation says that Netflix does not plan to engage in a traditional pilot season like the broadcast networks, in which shows are competing for a limited number of slots.”

This is just the second pilot order in Netflix series history following the comedy series Little Sky, which had its production impacted by the Writers Guild of America strike back in 2023. The project did not move to series.

What will the sequel series be about?

Felicia Pride is the writer, executive producer and showrunner on the project. The series will follow Whitley and Dwayne’s daughter, who is following in her parents’ footsteps by attending the fictional HBCU, Hillman College. Executive producing with Debbie Allen, who directed and produced the original series, are Mandy Summers, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Bythewood, both of whom wrote for the original series, and Tom Werner of The Carsey-Werner Company, who executive produced the original series.

The original series starred Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison as Whitley and Dwayne, an odd-couple pairing who eventually become the main couple of the series after the departure of Lisa Bonet’s character, Denise Huxtable. It also starred Dawnn Lewis, Sinbad, Cree Summer, Darryl M. Bell, Lou Myers, Charnele Brown, Glynn Turman, Karen Malina White, Jada Pinkett Smith and more.

A sequel series has been in many stages of early development over the years, but it was plagued by Bill Cosby’s sexual assault allegations and legal issues.

Cornell Young

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