Don Cheadle Clarifies Space Jam 2 Role

Don Cheadle

There are a lot of movies on their way to the big screen that for a long time we never thought we'd actually see. Bad Boys For Life is in theaters now. At least two, and probably more, Avatar sequels are actually happening. And somehow, against all odds, a sequel to Space Jam is a real thing. And it's got Lebron James in it.

In addition to King James, it's been confirmed that Don Cheadle has a role in the upcoming live action/Looney Tunes hybrid movie, but beyond the fact that we assume, it will involve characters playing basketball, we know very little about what the movie will actually be about. Recently, at the Television Critics Association Conference (via ComicBook) Don Cheadle actually made things less clear by confirming something that we likely all sort of assumed was not the case. Cheadle will be playing a character other than himself in Space Jam 2. According to the Avengers: Endgame actor...

No, I’m not playing myself. I actually can’t tell you what I’m playing.

Even before Space Jam 2 was ever really a thing people were talking about the idea of a sequel to the film starring LeBron James, the only basketball player since Michael Jordan to rival him as a household name. It seemed like the idea was as much a joke as anything, but then again, the actual Space Jam was born out of popular Nike commercials, so really nothing is crazy in this situation.

The idea, as far as we've all assumed to this point, was to make a sequel that followed the beats of the original pretty closely. It would be a combination of live action and animation, star Lebron and a few other high profile basketball names, and involve a basketball game. A number of other players in the NBA and WNBA have been named to the cast, so up until now, everything was falling into place.

But one of the other nuances of the original Space Jam was that basically all the major human characters played themselves, even Bill Murray, who supplied the original film's human comic relief was simply playing Bill Murray, so many likely just sort of guessed that if Don Cheadle was in Space Jam 2 he's probably playing Don Cheadle.

That's apparently not the case. While Cheadle can't say who or what he is playing, he's not playing himself. It's maybe not as surprising as we thought, as the word is that another of the film's big stars, Star Trek: Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green, is reportedly playing Lebron James' wife in the movie. So perhaps the plan for this sequel is only to have the basketball players as themselves.

The movie is more than a year away, with a release date in the summer of 2021, so it will likely be some time before we get our first look at the film and get a real idea of what we're in for.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.