The ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Director Says That Lola Bunny Will Be Less ‘Sexualized’ Than She Was In The Original

Entertainment Weekly has released the first images from the long-in-the-works Space Jam: A New Legacy. There’s LeBron James in his Tune Squad jersey dunking an electric basketball with the Eiffel Tower and a waterfall behind him (this movie is going to be wild); there’s a slim Big Chungus, a.k.a. Bugs Bunny, looking nervous about something; and there’s the image that has most caught the internet’s attention, Lola Bunny with a different uniform style than in the original Space Jam starring Michael Jordan.

Director Malcolm D. Lee told EW that after watching 1996’s Space Jam for the first time in 2019, he was caught off guard by the “very sexualized” depiction of the Tune Squad’s only female athlete. “This is 2021. It’s important to reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female characters,” he said. Lola was “reworked” for A New Legacy to make her less the object of Bugs’ “Doll” affection and more “the team’s best non-LeBron player.”

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