Netflix’s new “A Different World” arrives with a burden few television comedies have to carry: the original entertained millions while helping some viewers decide where they went to college, what careers to pursue and even how they saw themselves.

Nearly four decades on, Kadeem Hardison continues to hear about that impact.

“I’m still learning that every day,” said Hardison, who played the mathematically gifted, flip-shade-wearing Dwayne Wayne.

He said people would approach him, saying they went to college because of the show, became engineers because of him or even gained the confidence to pursue relationships after watching Dwayne and Whitley Gilbert’s famously winding romance.

A new generation is now discovering Hillman College, with some of the original actors returning to resurrect it.

The 10-episode sequel series is slated to premiere on Netflix on Sept. 24.

Cornell Young IV, one of six young stars leading the series, played college football in Missouri and said his own college decision was largely driven by which schools recruited him.

But after filming the series at historically Black colleges and universities — Clark Atlanta, Spelman College and Morehouse — in Atlanta, Young found himself reconsidering the path he took.

“I wish I had been more like, ‘Yo, here go my tape. Like, I’m trying to come here,’” said Young, who plays Shaquille Johnson, the son of original character Ron Johnson.

The sequel follows Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon), the youngest daughter of Dwayne and Whitley, as she embarks upon her freshman year at Hillman.

The new class also comprises Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai), Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall), Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece) and Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche).

Young said that being immersed in an HBCU environment gave him something he hadn’t fully understood before: a place where students could feel “protected,” “covered” and “seen” while figuring out who they wanted to become.

The original “A Different World,” a spinoff of “The Cosby Show,” made its debut in 1987 and endured for six seasons.

Situated at the fictional Hillman College, the series acquainted numerous viewers with HBCU life while grappling with topics as varied as apartheid and HIV/AIDS, racism and sexual assault.

Felicia Pride, the creator and showrunner of the sequel, was raised among the very viewers the original series had reached.

She recalls watching it with her family on Thursday nights and being captivated by a step-show episode.

As a young dancer who had never witnessed stepping, she taped it on a VCR and replayed it over and over until she had mastered the routine.

"That altered something within me, the capacity to perceive myself upon the screen," Pride said.

Nearly forty years later, she wants to make it possible for someone else to receive that same kind of recognition.

She wants the new Hillman to speak just as directly to the generation now entering college.

The sequel takes on social media and the pressures of living digitally, along with isolation, immigration, campus safety, sexual orientation and sexual health.

Pride said conversations with young people repeatedly revealed how technology can leave them feeling connected and disconnected at the same time.

Certain of Hillman’s preoccupations persist unaltered.

The series further delves into grief, heartbreak, friendship, and the disorientation inherent in discovering one’s identity far from home.

“The timing was now ideal for the show to return and act as a unifying force for us,” Pride said.

The new cast is less concerned with recreating the old Hillman than with rendering this one recognizable to their generation.

For Moon, that begins with Deborah, who examined what she termed the “beautiful flaws” of Dwayne and Whitley but resisted merely blending their personalities together.

"These are formidable shoes to fill," Moon said.

She wanted Deborah to stand on her own — an original character whose flaws, impulses and experiences reflect what it means to be a young Black woman coming of age now.

For Reece, that encompasses the relentless comparison fostered by social media.

She said young women are growing up with heightened pressure surrounding appearance, given that images of others, and opportunities to measure themselves against them, remain perpetually within reach.

Kai perceives another facet of this generation’s experience: greater latitude for Black women to determine how they present themselves.

She remarked that there is expanded scope to experiment with hair, fashion, color and texture rather than conform to notions of what others deem palatable.

She brought a degree of that sensibility to Rashida, suggesting ideas for the character's nails and altering her hairstyles.

Together, their characters are not meant to provide a single definition of young Black womanhood.

The experience is “both universal, but not a monolith,” Moon said.

Hardison is aware that the incoming cast will inevitably be judged against its predecessor.

In his view, that perspective overlooks the essential point.

"Let the children take charge of the cooking," he said.

Hardison stressed that the new “A Different World” is a sequel, not a reboot.

He likened comparing the two casts to comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James — different generations playing under different circumstances.

Notwithstanding the reverence that surrounds the original today, Hardison recalls that it took time for the show to become the one people now celebrate.

The series underwent a major creative shift after its first season, when Debbie Allen assumed the role of executive producer.

“Our inaugural season was an unmitigated disaster, you know,” Hardison said with a laugh.

“Afford the kids some time and extend them some grace.”

That may prove increasingly difficult to secure within the contemporary television industry.

While the original had over 20 episodes per season, and years, to develop its characters, the new series has only 10 episodes to establish itself in an entertainment landscape where streaming services, social media, YouTube and other platforms are constantly competing for attention.

“We must perform well right from the outset,” Pride said.

“The times in which we find ourselves are far less forgiving.”

For Pride, that leaves scant room for a slow start.

“We lack the advantage of, you know, evolving alongside the show and allowing the show to find its own footing,” she said.

“So I hope people turn out. I hope they watch it together.”