Will Smith raising a toast in Bad Boys for Life next to Will Smith looking dramatic in Gemini Man

Summary

Will Smith plans to star in a new TV show from creatives behind Westworld and Fallout , potentially signaling a career rebound.
Smith’s meeting with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy suggests a shift towards TV as a new path for his career.
Smith’s career is already starting to recover following his 2022 Oscars incident, with TV acting as a good way to continue broadening his career prospects.

Will Smith is in talks to star in a new TV show from the creative team behind Westworld and Fallout, a stepping stone as his career begins a road to recovery. Smith became a controversial figure after slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars, resulting in the actor getting banned from events involving the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for 10 years. Since then, he’s starred in two movies, Emancipation and the recent critical success Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

Now, Puck reports that Smith is having conversations with Westworld and Fallout creatives Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy about starring in a sci-fi TV show. The report claims the actor pitched a series to them that tackles the subject of A.I., and would either star him for season 1 or be a limited series altogether. However, he’s allegedly had multiple meetings with Nolan, indicating his interest in TV could be the start of a new path for his career’s recovery.

Why A Sci-Fi TV Show Would Be Perfect For Smith’s Next Project

Smith Has Been Largely Successful In The Sci-Fi Genre

Will Smith walking through tall grass as Robert Neville in I Am Legend

Smith’s career is slowly starting to recover following his incident at the Oscars, with Bad Boys: Ride or Die on track to become a global box office success. His next big movie is expected to be the forthcoming I Am Legend 2, which sees him return as Dr. Robert Neville following the alternate ending of the first one. In addition to his work in front of the camera, he’s also a producer on the forthcoming Karate Kid movie, showing how he’s continuing his filmmaking as usual despite the prior controversy.

However, TV would be the perfect medium to continue advancing his career, as it would offer him a new way to tell stories by going back to his roots. Smith’s first major role was as a fictionalized version of himself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, something that helped catapult him into movie stardom. By returning to the medium in a starring role following decades of its evolution, he could bring an interesting story to life that’s just as captivating as his first performance.

Smith is no stranger to sci-fi movies either, with some of his most popular films like Men in Black, Independence Day, and I, Robot adding to the genre. Since he already has an idea for a story that could work on the small screen, this could lead to close collaboration should the TV series come to fruition. However, since the report says meetings are still ongoing, it may be some time until the actor’s possible TV role gets revealed.

Source: Puck