After years of delays, Netflix has finally revealed the first look at its upcoming live action adaptation of Shinichiro Watanabe’s cult anime series Cowboy Bebop.
The series, which is slated to hit screens this autumn, stars John Cho as Spike, Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine, and Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black. Watanabe is consulting on the project and Yoko Kanno, the composer behind the iconic soundtrack of the original anime, will be returning with new material (read our interview with Kanno here).
Cowboy Bebop follows Spiegel, an intergalactic bounty hunter, and his band-a-parte of cowboys, who chase down the solar system’s most notorious criminals and bounties in 2071.
“Based on the worldwide phenomenon from Sunrise Inc., Cowboy Bebop is the jazz-inspired, genre-bending story of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Radical Ed: a rag-tag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their pasts as they hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals. They’ll even save the world… for the right price,” read an earlier press release.
Also joining the cast is non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park, who will be playing the role of Gren, who is depicted as genderfluid in the original anime.
The remake was first announced in 2018, but ran into some roadblocks as Cho had an on-set injury that delayed filming. This was further delayed by the pandemic, but shooting was resumed in New Zealand in July.
The series will now be released on Netflix on November 19 and will run for a total of ten episodes.