The Looney Tunes star in their first preschool series in over 20 years. Bugs Bunny Builders premieres Monday July 25th at 8am on Cartoon Network (part of the Cartoonito block), and the eight episodes then begin streaming the next day, Tuesday July 26th, on HBO Max. I spoke with showrunner and supervising producer Abe Audish about “what’s up” with the Looney Construction Crew and his enthusiasm for BBB. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Why this show — and why now?

Abe Audish: We have so many iterations of Looney Tunes and the Looney Tunes brand. It’s geared towards an older audience. So we were looking for a way to find an entry way for the brand and for a younger audience. It just kind of made sense that we would take this approach and see if it was do-able.

JM: My four year old cousin loves construction vehicles. You put a lot of care into the designs of the vehicles that Bugs, Daffy and the others use.

AA: We understand we have a younger audience. Their vocabulary… they’re not as vocal as us and they don’t exactly know the characters. With the designs: we wanted to make them friendly — to enjoy the looks — but also to be able to point out, “I like the gray one. I like the peach one. I like Lola’s vehicle.” We wanted to give them each vehicle their own personality so the younger audience can pick out and understand that each vehicle is different — you can follow them and track them throughout the series.

JM: And what are the building blocks to a great episode of this series?

AA: It’s really finding that line. We took great care in understanding our audience [and] also the brand. That was a big thing for me. I grew up with Looney Tunes and I have two wonderful daughters of my own. It was bringing the wackiness, looniness and fun of the Looney Tunes that we’ve all enjoyed for years and years and years — but also understanding our audience. They don’t get some of the older jokes and some of that wittiness. So packaging it so that they can enjoy it… when family members talk about Bugs Bunny, they can relate to [him].

JM: I really like how you insert the supporting characters. In the racetrack episode, the Roadrunner shows up and competes with the racecars, which is a really smart idea.

AA: Everybody’s really familiar with them, so we wanted to make sure… it’s not just familiar characters, but we’re trying to build a world. This Looneyburg. It’s not just characters and vehicles and they’re doing stuff. It’s a whole community. So having these supporting characters come-in and be those characters in real-life — mailmen and drivers… we wanted to set them in a world so it genuinely felt like a place kids and hopefully adults would want to go, hang out and be a part.

JM: When I hear somebody say, “I wanna build a world”, I feel like it’s gonna go beyond just these eight 11-minute episodes. Is that the vision? Where do you want to take Looneyburg?

AA: Everywhere. (laughs) We want to introduce a bunch of different characters. The Looney Tunes brand is so expansive. We want to explore different areas and cultures and different types of building blocks and things around the world that hopefully kids haven’t either seen or been exposed to. We want to set it out there.

JM: Chandni Parekh makes her debut as Lola. How was it bringing her in to voice this iconic character?

AA: Fantastic. Chandni is so wonderful to work with. There are different iterations of Lola, but for us, this is the Lola we wanted and we needed. She really brought the character to life.

JM: How did you want to balance the fun and zaniness with real lessons that preschoolers — and all family members — can learn? There’s a lot about being decisive, making decisions, sticking with something and trusting in others.

AA: We don’t want to lose our audience. We want them to enjoy the episodes. And having that learning curriculum there, where it’s all about community and making decisions and being true to yourself, that happened kind of organically with these characters. When it was trying to fit both of them into it (the Looney Tunes brand and preschool), it kind of happened organically. We’ve had these characters, and I think their personalities fit. And being a dad, I wanted to make sure this show was family-friendly. We have that younger audience, but I always enjoy watching cartoons with my girls. To have family and friends hopefully watch this [together] and with younger members walking by and going, “I know that character! Is that Roadrunner?” I want them to sit and really enjoy these, like they did with the past iterations.

JM: You are continuing the legacy with these characters. Not too many people can say, “I’ve had the chance to make Bugs Bunny.” From the inside, what is the magic? What is the secret to these characters?

AA: I don’t know if it’s a secret… they’re so iconic. I have so much to work with from the past. It’s really finding what works for the show and the younger audience. The crew we have enjoys it. That’s part of it. It’s having that love of watching it and growing up with it. If that’s the secret, that’s the secret. It’s the love of these characters and really wanting to make sure they shine and stay true to the original core of the characters. That was a big deal for me and with a lot of my co-workers and the writers and directors. They all grew up on this. “I can’t mess this up! I gotta make sure they’re funny and wacky.”

JM: Speaking of a crew, have you thought about what you would want the Looney Construction Crew to build for you?

AA: (laughs) Oh man. I never really thought of that. I would say probably re-do my house. Put some fun slides in there. Maybe some kind of carport that can wash my car and shoot it out. And maybe something from my bedroom to the pool. (laughs)

JM: I bet your kids would love that. (laughs) What about ice cream for your birthday? That’s a great episode with Taz. What would you want the scoops to be?

AA: That’s a great question. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that. That’s great. I would have to have strawberry as my base. Then I’d definitely have to have vanilla in there to offset it. Then I’d probably finish up with some mint chocolate chip. That would be my topper.

JM: The other episode I got to watch is the waterslide park with [mayor] Foghorn Leghorn. Any crazy water slide experience you’ve had like we see on the episode?

AA: Back when I was 15 or 16, my friend and I went to a local water park and they had one of those big drop down slides. I was terrified. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want to look like a chicken in front of my buddy because he was a cool jock guy. So we went up there and I went first, and he was telling the lifeguard, “Push him! Push him real hard!” And I was like, “Please, please don’t! Just send me over” So he sends me over, and it terrified me. And then when I got to the bottom I got out and I looked up and see my buddy pretty much come flying out of the chute, and he had pushed him as hard as he had wanted the lifeguard to push me. He wasn’t too thrilled or happy with that, but it had me cracking up. I love that story.