‘Bel-Air’ stars compare his Geoffrey to Jason Bourne

Photo by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images for BAFTA LA

The new one Prince of Bel-Air fresh restart, Bel-Air, will premiere on Peacock tomorrow. Fans are excited for the Will Smith-produced drama starring Jabari Banks as Will Smith in a dramatic reimagining of the original series. One of Banks’ co-stars, who plays the series’ iconic butler, provided us with some interesting personality details.

Jimmy Akingbola stars in the upcoming series as Geoffrey, a no-nonsense and shrewd housekeeper. With a dramatic change from the comedic tone of the original sitcom, Akingbola’s role will be more serious. In a conversation with The Hollywood ReporterBritish actor compared his character to Jason Bourne, saying:

I’ve always said that, to me, Geoffrey was originally the good-natured Roger Moore-type James Bond and in our version he’s more like Jason Bourne. He has the edge and swaggers to him. We talked a lot about authenticity, and Morgan said that Geoffrey is from East London and I’m cool, because I’m from East London. And we talked about what he looked like. He can’t be a housekeeper, that doesn’t work in 2022. So he’s the house manager, but he does a lot of other things. I remember loving the original Geoffrey but, where I come from, don’t know how many people have said so. So I like being able to create a person, if you’re from East London, you’re like, “I know people like that.” Also, he is more mined to be closer to Will, he has a similar background. He’s street smart.

The role of Geoffrey was originally loved by Joseph Marcell for his sarcastic and witty personality, and when asked if the Akingbola version would light up, he replied: “He does. Later on, we’ll see a little bit of his gentle side. “