Is Hillman College real? Where Netflix’s ‘A Different World’ sequel was filmed
Hillman College has welcomed a new class in Netflix’s ‘A Different World,’ but viewers will not find it on a college map. The historically Black college is fictional, just as it was in the original sitcom. This time, though, the production filmed on real campuses in Atlanta to bring Hillman to the screen. Some of the buildings and events in Deborah Wayne’s first year have real-life counterparts.
The sequel began streaming on September 24, with Maleah Joi Moon playing Deborah, the daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert. Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy return as her parents. According to Just Jared, Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University all supplied campus locations for the 10-episode season. The three schools help create one fictional Hillman, with other Atlanta venues and studio sets filling in the rest.
Morehouse appears throughout the sequel. Its Century Campus became the site of Hillman’s Friday Fest homecoming celebration in episode three, including scenes with singer Summer Walker. For the football game in episode two, the production used Morehouse’s B.T. Harvey Stadium and changed its end zones to carry Hillman’s name. Members of the college’s football team and marching band also took part in the shoot. The opening episode shows two more Morehouse landmarks, Joseph T. Robert House and Kilgore Campus Center.
Spelman supplied a building longtime viewers may recognize. The exterior of Bessie Strong Hall stands in for Gilbert Hall in the Netflix series, and Spelman says the residence hall also appeared as a backdrop in the original show. Inside the story, the hall now bears a connection to Whitley Gilbert, whose daughter is attending Hillman. The production also filmed the first episode’s convocation and episode seven’s talent show at Spelman’s LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center.
Clark Atlanta University completes the group of campuses used for Hillman’s exterior scenes. The university confirmed that filming took place on its campus, while Netflix confirmed that production on the sequel wrapped in Atlanta. The campus filming marks a change from the original ‘A Different World,’ which largely created Hillman on studio sets in Hollywood.
Hillman extends beyond the college grounds. A party in episode six was filmed at Tongue & Groove, a nightclub in Atlanta’s Lindbergh area. The black-tie gala in the season finale used the Biltmore Ballrooms in Midtown. Those locations give the students and returning characters places to meet away from campus while keeping the story in Atlanta.
The sequel still uses constructed sets for spaces viewers see regularly. At Cinespace Studios Atlanta, the crew built interiors for the dorms, Freddie Brooks’ classroom and the Pit, where Hillman students gather. That mix of campus locations and studio interiors explains why Hillman can feel like a single school even though its scenes were shot across several sites. The college remains fictional, but many of the places behind it are part of Atlanta’s HBCU community.
