In August 2020, it was announced that Will Smith and Morgan Cooper would be developing a reboot of the series based on Cooper's short Bel-Air (2019) trailer. The series had reportedly been in the works for over a year since Cooper posted his Bel-Air trailer on YouTube, with Netflix, Peacock, and HBO Max all currently bidding for the series, and finally, on September 8, 2020, Peacock decided to give Bel-Air a 2-season order.

It was announced that Daphne Reid and Vernee Watson, who portrayed Vivian Banks and Viola 'Vy' Smith in the original series, will portray Aunt Helen and Janice in this series. Helen was originally portrayed by Jenifer Lewis and Janice was originally portrayed by Charlayne Woodard.

Reno Wilson, who plays Philip Banks' law partner James Lewis, actually had a minor role in the original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He played a character named "Steve", a friend of Will from Philadelphia that he sees when he visits with the family in the last episode of Season 4.

Duane Martin who plays the character Steven Lewis appeared in the episode It's Better to Have Loved and Lost It... (1993) as a character called Duane.

Warner Bros. Television Studios was not involved with Bel-Air for unknown reasons. In that case, the production of Warner Bros. Television was moved to Universal Television.