Netflix will shoot a pilot for A Different World, a sequel to the 1987 sitcom, which will chronicle Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter’s time at an HBCU. As Deadline reported exclusively in August, the project had been in development at the streamer since last year, and the commissioning of the pilot is part of that process. A rep for Netflix declined comment.
This is the second known pilot pickup at Netflix, whose business is built on straight-to-series orders. In 2023, the streamer ordered another comedy, the single-camera Little Sky, to pilot, whose production was impacted by the WGA strike. It ultimately didn’t go to series.
Like was the case with Little Sky, the Different World pilot is a one-off and not part of a strategy shift, sources said. The pilot model in general is more often employed in comedy as a proof of concept for tone, chemistry among the
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