'Bel-Air' star Jabari Banks says he found out he'd been cast in a surprise call with Will Smith while inside a friend's closet

• Jabari Banks said on "The Drew Barrymore Show" he learned he was cast in a surprise Zoom call.
• In 2021, Peacock published a video of Smith telling Banks he had landed the lead role in the reboot.
• Banks said that the series' creator tricked him into thinking it was another audition.

"Bel-Air" star Jabari Banks said he found out he'd been cast in the lead role in a surprise call while inside his friend's closet.

In August 2021, Peacock announced that Banks would be playing the iconic role previously played by Will Smith in a YouTube video featuring Smith breaking the news to the young actor over Zoom.

While appearing on "The Drew Barrymore Show" Thursday, Banks said "Bel-Air" creator Morgan Cooper set up the surprise call, telling the 24-year-old actor that it was another audition.

"I was actually here in New York, and my friend didn't have a big space and so he didn't have a wall that I could actually audition on," Banks told Barrymore about how he ended up in a closet to take the call. "Morgan Cooper called me and he said, 'We want to do one more creative session with you,' and I was like, 'What is a creative session?'"

Banks continued: "So, I got in a closet, and I got on the call, and Will Smith actually surprised me and told me I got the role while I was in my friend's closet."

Banks made his acting debut in the Peacock reboot of the hit 1990s sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which was coincidentally Smith's acting debut as well.

While Smith has not made an appearance in the new show so far, numerous "Fresh Prince" stars have made cameos, including Daphne Maxwell Reid (who played Vivian Banks), Vernee Watson-Johnson (who played Viola Smith), and Tatyana Ali (who played Ashley Banks).

Earlier this week, Banks said on the "Today" show that Ali was "crying the whole time" while filming her scenes for season two, which premiered this week.

"It was so meta. It was almost surreal," he said. "She was crying the whole time because, you know, she grew up on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,' and, so, to see Akira Akbar take on this role of Ashley, it was a mirror of sorts and so it was super surreal for her."

"Bel-Air" is available to stream on Peacock.