By Makuochi Echebiri
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Wine, they say, gets better with age. The same holds true for some television shows and movies, and A Different World certainly fits that category. The NBC sitcom ran from September 1987 to July 1993 on the network, and followed the story of Lisa Bonet’s Cosby Show character, Denise Huxtable and her classmates, as she attended Hillman College, a fictional HBCU. A Different World was itself a spinoff of The Cosby Show, with both shows created by Bill Cosby. The show previously enjoyed a streaming run Max, but now, the story of Hillman College has found itself a new home. Beginning on February 7, 2025, and coming nearly 38 years after its premiere, A Different World will stream on Netflix in the US.
In the show's first season, A Different World focused on Bonet's character as its lead, but after her exit in that first season, the Hillman College story would shift its focus. For the rest of its five seasons, the sitcom focused on the ensemble cast, which included Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson, Glynn Turman as Colonel Bradford Taylor, Cory Tyler as Terrence Taylor, Kadeem Hardison as Dwayne Wayne, Lou Myers as Vernon Gaines, Darryl M. Bell as Ron Johnson Jr., Cree Summer as Freddie Brooks, Jasmine Guy as Whitley Gilbert, Charnele Brown as Kim Reese and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lena James. Other cast members include Sinbad, Ajai Sanders, Mary Alice, Karen Malina White, Bumper Robinson, Patrick Y. Malone, and Marisa Tomei. Debbie Allen served as director-producer, with Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Bythewood working on the show as writers. Tom Werner executive produced the show.
At the height of its influence, A Different World was credited with an uptick in HBCU enrollment, with statistics showing a 25 percent increment in admissions between 1976 and 1994. Beyond the show offering an insight into the life of college kids as they figure things out in a rapidly changing world, A Different World seemed to have something for everyone. This, according to Brown, was part of what made it special. Speaking in 2017, the actor said,
“Whatever age group you were in, whether you were retired and trying to make your contribution to these young people like Mr. Gaines was. Whether you were a former military person like Col. Taylor was. Whether you were somebody who thought it was over for you, but you were gonna take a chance on yourself and reboot yourself and try again like Jaleesa was. Or you were privileged and really had no concept of what the average person had to deal with, like Whitley was.”
'A Different World' Sequel Series Might Be in the Works

A Different World saw some incredibly stellar names on its set. The series’ guest stars included Jesse Jackson, Halle Berry, Gladys Knight, and Tupac Shakur. While the original series was clearly a success in its own right, there are hopes for more. Sometime in the summer of 2024, Deadline reported that A Different World sequel series chronicling Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter’s time at Hillman College, is in early development at Netflix. For those with a clear memory of the series, Dwayne and Whitley ended up getting married, and in the show's penultimate episode, they discovered that they were expecting their first child. Now, their daughter is set to attend Hillman College. Netflix declined to comment on the development at the time.
You can head to the Hillman College on Feb. 7, when all six seasons of A Different World begin streaming on Netflix in the US.

a different world
TV-PG
Comedy
Family
- Release Date
- September 24, 1987
- Finale Year
- November 30, 1992
- Cast
- Don Barnes, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell, Cree Summer, Lisa Bonet, Charnele Brown, Lou Myers, dawnn lewis, Glynn Turman, Ajai Sanders, Karen Malina White, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sinbad, Marisa Tomei, Mary Alice, Loretta Devine, Bridgid Coulter, Joe Morton, Ted Ross, Rosalind Cash, Roxanne Beckford, Tisha Campbell, T.K. Carter, David Alan Grier
- Seasons
- 6
- Character(s)
- Guy, Whitley Gilbert, Dwayne Wayne, Ron Johnson, Freddie Brooks, Denise Huxtable, Kim Reese, Vernon Gaines, Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor, Colonel Brad Taylor, Gina Devereaux, Charmaine Brown, Lena James, Coach Walter Oakes, Maggie Lauten, Lettie Bostic, Stevie Rallen, Bettina, Byron Douglas III, Dean Harris, Dean Hughes, Courtney, Josie Webb, Darnell Gaines, Professor Byron Walcott
- Producers
- Debbie Allen
- Writers
- Yvette Lee Bowser, Thad Mumford, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Judi Ann Mason, Adriana Trigiani, Scott S. Gorden, Jeffrey Duteil, Orlando Jones, Bill Cosby, Matt Williams, Steven Peterman, Karen Kennedy, Joe Gannon, Gary Dontzig, Carmen Finestra, Susan Fales-Hill
- Network
- NBC
- Directors
- Henry Chan, Glynn Turman, Kadeem Hardison, David Blackwell, Kim Friedman, Michael Peters, Peter Werner, Christopher Hibler, Jasmine Guy, Jay Sandrich, John Whitesell, Matthew Diamond
- TV News
- Glynn Turman
- Jada Pinkett Smith
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