Looney Tunes will be debuting a new series on the HBO Max streaming service, but things will look a little different for some characters. In an interview with the New York Times, Peter Browngardt, the executive producer of the upcoming series, revealed that both Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam would not be in possession of their guns. That’s because Browngart says the show isn’t “doing guns” in an attempt to steer clear of the violence and the controversial gun laws that have been at the forefront of discussions across the country.
Browngardt said while guns won’t be featured, there will still be “cartoony violence.” This includes things like the famed Acme TNT seen throughout the series. It also will feature a scythe, which will be the weapon of choice for Fudd, according to Browngardt in the latest adaptation of the Looney Tunes. There will also be a general change in some of the show’s storylines due to all that’s going on in society. “We’re going through this wave of anti-bullying, everybody needs to be friends,” Browngardt shared in the interview, adding that it’s complicated with these characters, who he says is the “antithesis” of that because “it’s two characters in conflict” where things mostly get “pretty violent.”
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The series will feature 200 new cartoons with all of the iconic characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat chasing down Tweety Bird. The shorts will range in time from brief one-minute clips to six-minute shorts. Browngardt says these will tap into the cartoons from the show’s heyday in the 1940s and 1950 as HBO Max users can watch a few before catching a movie or binge-watch a handful.
HBO Max premiered on May 27 and featured over 10,000 hours of content. Among the biggest titles on the network include Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and Game of Thrones. Robert Greenblatt, the chairman of Warner Media Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer, shared in a statement ahead of the launch that the goal of the platform is to have “extraordinary content for everyone in the family.” He admitted he was “knocked out” after seeing all of the different avenues covered in the service, saying that users will appreciate the new Max originals along with iconic HBO series, the Warner Bros. library, and some of the acquisition titles. Among the originals will also be a few series spearheaded by J.J. Abrams, which Greenblatt feels will all be successes.
