Cult anime Cowboy Bebop is going to be made into a live-action television series, according to Variety. The 1998 series gained a massive following throughout its 26-episode run. It was cancelled 12 episodes in due to its controversial adult content. The irony was that this show, about bounty hunters, was created in order to sell spaceship toys to kids. “So long as there's a spaceship in it, you can do whatever you want,” Japanese toy company Bandai instructed the show’s creator Shinichirō Watanabe before it went into production.

Set in 2071, Cowboy Bebop follows a gang of bounty hunters – the cowboys – through the galaxy on board their spaceship, Bebop. The earth is uninhabitable because of an accident with a hyperspace gateway. All of the other rock planets are inhabited. Working with the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP), the cowboys bring back criminals alive in return for cash rewards.

At one point, Keanu Reeves was attached to star as Spike Spiegel in a live-action version of the series. It never worked out, as he explained in a 2013 Reddit AMA, “Cowboy Bebop does not look like it is going to happen with me in it,” said Reeves. “The script that was written was great and amazing, but it would cost like half a billion dollars to make it…I wished and hoped I would have done that project.”

It is widely believed that Cowboy Bebop is the best anime series of all time, and many will be angry to hear of a live-action version. I mean, how can you stage all of the epic space dogfights better than the original anime? While it’s likely no consolation, Sunset Inc. – the studio behind the original anime – is executive producing the live-action series.

Watch a trailer for the original below:

Stream Cowboy Bebop on Netflix in the UK and on Hulu in the US