In a recent interview, Don Cheadle appeared to confirm that Michael Jordan would be returning for Space Jam: A New Legacy, the sequel to the beloved family film that starred the basketball legend opposite the Looney Tunes. However, Cheadle did say that his involvement wasn’t what you’d expect, and a new rumor claims to have cast light on the athlete’s role in the movie, though it could turn out to be a major disappointment for fans of His Airness.
As per the intel, the six-time NBA championship winner won’t actually show up in person and instead, we’ll get one-time MTV Movie & TV Award winner Michael B. Jordan, which would be hugely ironic after the actor admitted not too long ago that he’d never actually met his famous namesake beside a brief handshake and hello.
That being said, Michael Jordan still technically has a role to play in the story as a member of the Tune Squad will try and recruit their former player for the game at the center of the plot on which the fate of the entire universe hinges, but they turn up with the wrong Michael Jordan. This is said to have come about after the Black Panther star regularly showed up to the set of A New Legacy to have various bits and pieces of merch signed by LeBron James, who then asked for a favor in return.
The Static Shock producer was shooting Warner Bros.’ legal drama Just Mercy in mid-2019 at the same time the Space Jam sequel was in production on the same lot, so the timeline definitely checks out, and it would also chime with Cheadle’s tease that Michael Jordan does indeed have a role in the story of Space Jam: A New Legacy, just not in the way that anyone’s expecting.