Kevin Hart, Damon Wayans, And John Lithgow Cast In ABC’s Live “Diff’rent Strokes”

The cast of Diff’rent Strokes has been revealed!

ABC announced late Thursday night that Live in Front of a Studio Audience will return for a third installment). The production will be recreating episodes of Diff’rent Strokes and its spinoff, The Facts of Life.

The cast of Diff’rent Strokes will feature Kevin Hart as Arnold, succeeding Gary Coleman; John Lithgow as Phillip Drummond, succeeding Conrad Bain; Damon Wayans as Willis, succeeding Todd Bridges; and Ann Dowd as Mrs. Garrett, succeeding Charlotte Rae. 

No word yet on who might play Arnold and Willis’ sister Kimberly, originally portrayed by Dana Plato.

The legendary Norman Lear — whose Embassy Television produced both Diff’rent Strokes and Facts of Life — will return as an executive producer, alongside Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux and Jim Burrows.

“Other than with my family, there’s no place I’d rather be in my 100th year than on a soundstage at Sony with these glorious actors reliving what our company had produced all those years ago and sharing it with the millions of viewers who could use a little laughter,” Lear said in a statement.

The first Live in Front of a Studio Audience special aired May 2019, and recreated episodes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons. That was followed by a second installment in December 2019, featuring a new reenactment of All in the Family and a classic episode of Good Times.

The original Diff’rent Strokes aired for seven seasons on NBC, between 1978 and 1985, before relocating to ABC for its eighth and final season, which wrapped in 1986.

Midway through Season 2, Rae departed Diff’rent Strokes to headline her own spinoff, the Facts of Life, which ran for nine seasons between 1979 and 1988.

The remaining cast of the Facts of Life will be revealed at a later date.

The two shows will premiere Tuesday, Dec. 7 (at 8/7c).

This should be good!