Could you possibly have a Space Jam film without the originator of space-related jamming? Thankfully, we will not have to find out.

Obviously, Michael Jordan is not the protagonist of Space Jam: A New LegacyThat honor goes to current NBA star LeBron James. But everyone and their grandmother (or is that Bugs Bunny in disguise as your grandmother? Tough to say!) is wondering whether Jordan will show up in the film. Although the plot of A New Legacy is a little different than the first film — this time, LeBron is sucked inside a highly advanced computer world called the “Serververse” and has to recruit a team of basketball players to help him — it’s not impossible to imagine that, like, at the end of the movie Michael Jordan shows up to come off the bench and help the new Tune Squad win the day. You can practically hear the audience bursting into applause when he jogs out onto the court.

But will it happen? Maybe. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Don Cheadle, who stars in the film as the the villainous computer program “Al-G Rhythm,” confirmed that Jordan does appear in Space Jam: A New Legacy. He did not confirm any new space jamming from him, however. As he put it, Jordan’s in the film “but not in the way you’d expect it.”

So what’s the way we would expect? Probably the scenario I laid out above, with MJ teaming up with LeBron to help win the all-important basketball game. If that’s out, how else might he show up? If LeBron’s hanging out in the “Serververse” with all kinds of fictional characters beyond the Looney Tunes, maybe a cartoon or video game version of Michael Jordan from one of his many animated series or NBA Live appearances could show up for a cameo? I cannot be the only one who remembers the ProStars.

Space Jam: A New Legacy premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021. Watch Don Cheadle’s full interview below; his Space Jam comments come at the very end:

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