In a casting announcement that sounds almost too good for what we’ve come to expect from the Space Jam brand, Deadline is reporting that Don Cheadle has joined the cast of the long-rumored, now-finally-happening reboot with LeBron James. We don’t know who he’ll be playing, but assuming he’s not a Looney Tune and that the movie won’t be casting regular actors as basketball players, he could be taking over the Bill Murray role as “guy who is just there for some reason.” Or, barring that, maybe he’ll just be playing his character from the Marvel movies and War Machine will show up to join the battle against the Monstars. That would be pretty cool.
Space Jam 2, which might not actually feature many real NBA stars beyond LeBron James (sneaker contracts are the real Monstars), is being directed by Terence Nance. Sonequa Martin-Green was in talks to join the movie as LeBron James’ fictional wife back in March, but the Deadline story doesn’t say if those talks worked out or if someone else will be filling the fictional wife role. Either way, they’ve found a great actor for the all-important “guy who is just there for some reason” and/or War Machine character. Space Jam 2 will be in theaters in 2021.