Bel-Air's Cast Reveals Their Favorite Thanksgiving Memories As Their Holiday Episode Drops
From card games to favorite recipes, find out what Thanksgiving traditions Peacock's Bel-Air cast members cherish.
The first three episodes of Bel-Air's fourth and final season are now streaming on Peacock, and Episode 3 is a special Thanksgiving-themed one.
This season sees Philadelphia-to-Los Angeles transplant Will Smith (Jabari Banks) and his cousin Carlton Banks (Olly Sholotan) going through their senior year together and looking forward to what the future holds for them, albeit with plenty of hiccups along the way.
Despite the drama, the family at the heart of the show was able to sit down for a Thanksgiving meal together in Season 4, Episode 3, titled "What Are You Doing For Thanksgiving?"
Peacock Blog caught up with the Bel-Air cast and the showrunner, who were all particularly excited to talk about filming a holiday episode for the series' final season.
"I love a holiday episode," Banks shared. "Those are some of my favorite episodes of TV. I wish we got to do a Halloween episode!"
Bel-Air showrunner Carla Banks Waddles revealed that Peacock executives told her early on that they'd love the show to do a holiday episode.
"We went back and forth between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and ultimately landed on Thanksgiving," Waddles explained. "It just felt great to be at home with the Banks family and seeing what their traditions are, what the kitchen looks like, and of course, the drama that comes with family all being together in the same room, in the same kitchen. It was a lot of fun. I love that episode. It's one of my favorites."
Here are the Bel-Air cast members' favorite Thanksgiving memories and traditions.
The Bel-Air cast's favorite Thanksgiving memories
Jabari Banks (Will Smith on Bel-Air)
"One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is sitting down and playing card games with my family,” Banks told Peacock Blog. “So I'm very excited to do that this Thanksgiving. I love the scene where me and Carlton and Lou (Marlon Wayans) and Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) are playing that card game; that's just so real. And I'm very excited to play card games with my family this Thanksgiving."
Simone Joy Jones (Lisa Wilkes on Bel-Air)
"I always love the Christmas episodes, those are my favorites," Jones said of experiencing as a viewer TV's tradition of making holiday-themed episodes. "And I just really love watching our show mirror the things that we really, really loved about growing up. It's been a cool thing to watch."
Olly Sholotan (Carlton Banks on Bel-Air)
Though he was born in the U.S., Olly Sholotan spent much of his childhood in Nigeria, so the concept of Black Friday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving amazed him.
"My favorite Thanksgiving memories have to do with Black Friday because I didn't grow up in America," Sholotan told Peacock Blog. "I moved when I was 10 years old, and so coming to the States and hearing about Black Friday, I was like, 'Hang on, we can go line up outside of the store at three in the morning?' And that excited me. My parents were like, 'Why would we do that?' So, those are some of my favorite memories. The couple of times we got to do that was a lot of fun.
"And similarly to Jabari, just that scene of all of us [in the Bel-Air Thanksgiving episode] playing games and coming together," Sholotan added. "That is the spirit of the holidays, right?"
Coco Jones (Hilary Banks on Bel-Air)
"A favorite memory of Thanksgiving, I would say was cooking with my grandma," Jones said. "I always told her, 'You need to make a recipe book because these are quality!' She would write down some of her recipes for me. She makes this amazing pound cake and she taught me how to make it, and I make it every year in honor of her."
Akira Akbar (Ashley Banks on Bel-Air)
As the youngest central cast member on Bel-Air, Akira Akbar shared, "My favorite tradition, honestly, it's just having my family all come together. We spend the holidays together. Sometimes they'll come to my house, or sometimes we'll go up to my grandpa's house in Bakersfield [in California], and that's just my favorite part."
Cassandra Freeman (Vivian Banks on Bel-Air)
Cassandra Freeman, who plays Will's aunt and Banks family matriarch Vivian, shared, "I'm from Florida originally, so everyone, no matter where they live, they all come back to West Palm Beach to my grandmother's house. And when my grandparents passed away, that really stopped the tradition because [they were] the matriarch and patriarch. It took years to get it back going. And now my mom moved back into her parents' house and totally renovated, so this is the first year we get to do it, actually, back at grandma and granddad's house.
"The big tradition is that everyone — it could be 100 people and it has been — we all get in a circle, we hold hands, and everyone says what they're thankful for," Freeman concluded.
How to watch Bel-Air
Be sure to add the Bel-Air Season 4 Thanksgiving special, which is Episode 3, to your holiday viewing lineup. All four seasons of the drama series can be streamed on Peacock. The first three episodes of Bel-Air Season 4 are currently streaming, while Episodes 4 and 5 will drop on Monday, December 1, and Episodes 6, 7, and 8 arrive on Monday, December 8.
