Will Smith reunites with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast

Will Smith has been reunited with the cast of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ more than 20 years after the show went off the air.

The Hollywood actor – who more or less played himself on the popular US sitcom – was joined in the snap by former cast-mates Alfonso Ribeiro, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Daphne Maxwell Reid and Joseph Marcell.

However, one notable absentee from the photograph was actor James Avery, who played Philip Banks on the show, but passed away in December 2013.

Alfonso, who appeared as Carlton Banks, captioned the image on Instagram: "Always amazing to spend an afternoon with my Fresh Prince family. Wishing that James Avery was still with us to make this complete."

Ever since the show went off the air in 1996, there has been frequent rumours of a reunion.

But Will has previously insisted a much-discussed reboot of the sitcom will only happen "when Hell freezes over".

Asked last year about the prospect of a reunion, Will said: "I don’t think ever – like, pretty close to when Hell freezes over. Pretty close, like, we’re gonna leave that one alone."

And his sentiment was subsequently echoed by Alfonso, who claimed that any reboot that did not feature Will was not worthy of the ‘Fresh Prince’ title.

He explained: "If it happened, it wouldn’t be ‘Fresh Prince’. It would be something that’s taking the story of the show and having all new people do something.

"To me, that’s not ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. There’s one ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. Is Will Smith starring in it? No. Then it ain’t no ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’."

In total, the original ‘Fresh Prince of Bell-Air’ ran for six seasons and aired 148 episodes.