Warner Bros has confirmed Zendaya as Lola Bunny in Space Jam: A New Legacy the sequel to the 1996 movie. The studio tweeted out the news on Saturday, April 3, the same day the first trailer dropped for the highly, anticipated sequel.
When the production studio announced last year that it was in the process of creating a sequel to the hit movie, it seemed like nothing could get better. Really, who doesn’t love Lebron James and a little bit of nostalgia?
Now, Hollywood’s princess will act as one of Tune town’s favorite rabbits and Bugs Bunny’s love interest.
Zendaya and James already know a thing or two about acting in an animated flick. In 2018, the Emmy-winning actress and the four-time NBA Championship winner voiced characters in the family comedy “Smallfoot.” The role even earned Zendaya a spot in meme history after a fan-created a fake promotional video for the movie.
A New Legacy Means A New Perspective On Space Jam
The latest addition to the Space Jam story will be delivered with a fresh, 21st-century perspective. According to the trailer released last weekend, Al G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) sucks James and his son (Cedric Joe) into the “Server-verse.” To free them both, James must defeat Al G Rhythm’s team of Goons in a basketball game with his fellow Toons’ help.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olXYZOsXw_o]
“It’s one of the biggest games, if not the biggest game, I’ve ever played in,” James told Entertainment Weekly.
As James scours the Server-verse to find his teammates, he finds himself in familiar kid’s movies like “The Iron Giant” and “The Flinstones.”
Zendaya Is The Best Match For The New Lola
James ends up finding notable characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, and Lola Bunny. Director Malcolm D. Lee cast Zendaya as Lola as part of his effort to make the character more developed.
“Lola was not politically correct,” Lee told Entertainment Weekly. “This is a kids’ movie. Why is she in a crop top? It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time, there’s a long history of that in cartoons.”
Additionally, Lee said he wanted to portray Lola as a female character without simultaneously objectifying her. In addition to altering the length of Lola’s clothing, he also made sure to give the character an authentic voice.
“For us, it was, let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others.”
And who better to do Lola justice than Zendaya herself? The 24-year-old has earned herself a number of big-screen roles since her departure from Disney. Most notably, she played MJ in “Spiderman: Homecoming” in 2017 and Rue in the ongoing TV series hit “Euphoria.”
The highly anticipated sequel will release on July 16 in theaters and HBO Max. Until then, fans can stream the original movie with basketball Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan on HBO Max.
