What happened to the cast of the original A Different World?

“A Different World” was supposed to be a spinoff of “The Cosby Show,” but life and star Lisa Bonet had other plans. It was a sitcom about Denise Huxtable’s (Bonet) experience attending an HBCU and dealing with issues that the family-friendly “Cosby Show” wouldn’t touch. The same year the show began, Bonet and Lenny Kravitz traveled to Las Vegas and got married; a year later she was pregnant. Executive producer Bill Cosby, then seen as a model of family values, insisted that Denise could not be a single mother.

Bonet left after just one season, in one of the 15 most controversial TV exits of all time, just as Debbie Allen was brought on as a new producer to make the black college setting more accurate and the series more ensemble-based. Spoiled Southern belle Whitley (Jasmine Guy), who had been more of an antagonist in Season 1, became the new main protagonist and mellowed throughout the remaining five seasons. “A Different World” ultimately became one of the best spin-off shows of all time.

With a legacy sequel now streaming on Netflix and some of the original cast returning, it’s a good time to look at what happened to the original cast of “A Different World.”

After Bonet was kicked off the show for getting pregnant, she continued to torch her good-girl image, doing an explicit sex scene with Mickey Rourke in the movie “Angel Heart” — a scene that, in the storyline, turns out to be incestuous, no less. She has appeared topless in Interview Magazine and with implied nudity in Rolling Stone. Bonet returned to “The Cosby Show” in 1989 as the now-married Denise with an adopted daughter, but was fired by Cosby in 1991 due to creative differences.

In 1993, she and Kravitz divorced and she changed her legal name to Lilakoi Moon, while using her former name for acting purposes. She appeared in more films, like “Enemy of the State” and “Biker Boyz,” and TV shows like “Life on Mars” and “The Red Road.”

In 2005, she began dating Jason Momoa; they soon had two children and later filmed the film “Road to Paloma” together in 2014. She had been his favorite celebrity when he was younger; they married in 2017 and divorced in 2024. His last acting credit was for the short film “Jellywolf” inspired by Chanel No. 5 in 2017.

Maggie, an unlikely white woman from an HBCU, was originally to be played by Meg Ryan, who ultimately turned down the role in favor of her film career. Tomei took on the role of Denise’s roommate, but when the series was reconfigured during the second season, she was fired despite Allen wanting to keep the character, having known someone like her in real life.

But Tomei was doing well for herself. Shortly after her film career, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for “My Cousin Vinny,” and she has never had a problem finding work, with a filmography that includes “Chaplin,” “The Paper,” “Slums of Beverly Hills,” “What Women Want” and “The Wrestler.”

Most recently, she became a star for a whole new generation as Peter Parker’s Aunt May in all four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man films, as well as guest appearances in others. Although May died in “No Way Home,” she returned for scenes in Peter’s head in “Brand New Day,” which has now become the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Dawnn Lewis co-wrote the show’s theme song and played Jaleesa for five seasons. She left “A Different World” for “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”, whose theme song she also performed with Holly Robinson and En Vogue.

She left “Mr. Cooper” when the series was revamped after the first season and found her new niche in voice acting. She has appeared in shows like “King of the Hill,” “The Boondocks” and “Futurama,” as well as films like “Monsters University.” Lewis has voiced the X-Men character Storm in three video games and appeared in live-action films like “Dreamgirls.”

Most recently, she voiced Captain Carol Freeman in “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” making her the first black female captain for a full series of a “Star Trek” show. (Michael Burnham on “Discovery,” which preceded it, didn’t get the promotion for a while).

Lisa Bonet’s misfortune benefited Jasmine Guy, as the show retooled to focus on her character, Whitley, in season 2. It remains her best-known role, so it’s no surprise that she’s returning for the new series. After starring in many other popular shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Guy’s next regular starring role was on Showtime’s “Dead Like Me,” playing Roxy Harvey, a former cop turned grim reaper. Keeping with the supernatural theme, Guy played a witch in “The Vampire Diaries” and a fallen angel in “Touched by an Angel.”

She made her film debut in Spike Lee’s “School Daze” and appeared in Eddie Murphy’s “Harlem Nights.” More recently, she starred in TV movies like “Wrapped up in Christmas” and “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.” Guy also continues to act in and direct stage productions and, for a time, served as executive director of Atlanta’s True Colors Theater. Guy was also close friends with Tupac Shakur and wrote a biography of his mother, Afeni.

With his flip-up sunglasses, Kadeem Hardison gradually transformed Dwayne Wayne from a girl-crazed idiot into a serious boyfriend and eventually husband for Whitley. He will also return for the new series.

Hardison went on to have quite the film career, in films like “Gunmen,” “Vampire in Brooklyn,” “Showtime” and “Biker Boyz.” His most recent film, the virtual reality-themed comedy-thriller “ClearMind,” was released in 2024. On television, he recently had the recurring role of Big Eddy in “Euphoria”; other shows in which he has been a regular or recurring member include “The Chi”, “Teenage Bounty Hunters”, “Black Monday”, “KC Undercover”, and “Grown-ish”.

He’s also a director, having learned his craft on a handful of episodes of “A Different World.” His first feature film, “The Dark Party,” was released in 2013, starring himself and Marcus Patrick as best friends whose blind date night goes horribly wrong. In 2024, he joined the cast of Ed Brubaker and Jordan Harper’s Amazon Prime Video series “Criminal” alongside Charlie Hunnam and Adria Arjona. Episodes of the series will be directed by “Captain Marvel” duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and “Mudbound” director Dee Rees.

A longtime stage actress who made her film debut in 1974’s “The Education of Sonny Carson,” Mary Alice starred as dorm manager Lettie Bostic for two seasons. She returned to acting in high-profile titles such as “Malcolm X,” “A Perfect World,” “Awakenings,” and “Sunshine State.”

Returning to television, she won a supporting actress Emmy for “I’ll Fly Away” in 1992. She had previously won a Tony Award for the 1987 production of August Wilson’s “Fences.” She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2000.

Her final film role was perhaps one of her most high-profile, as she played the Oracle in “The Matrix Revolutions” and its video game tie-ins after original actress Gloria Foster died during production. His last television role was in an episode of Ving Rhames…