Update, 11/27/18:
Guess it’s time to announce that Cowboy Bebop, the live-action series, is heading to @Netflix. pic.twitter.com/bKe0d8EKoH
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) November 28, 2018
The Cowboy Bebop live-action series first reported in June 2017 has found a home on Netflix. The streaming service announced the news on Twitter on Tuesday night and confirmed the original creator Shinichiro Watanabe will be consulting on the series and the first episode is written by Chris Yost (Thor: Ragnarok). They’ve ordered ten episodes, according to Deadline, from Tomorrow Studios, Midnight Radio, and Sunrise–the studio tied to the original show.
Original post:
Eighteen years after the final episode of Cowboy Bebop‘s iconic anime series, the crew of the starship Bebop is getting a live-action reboot on television.
Variety is reporting that Thor screenwriter and comic book veteran Chris Yost is adapting Cowboy Bebop for television, with Sunrise Inc. and Midnight Radio producing the series. The Cowboy Bebop anime debuted in Japan in 1998 and it quickly became one of the most popular series in the world. It was even the first anime to be broadcast on Adult Swim in 2001.
As conceived by ShinichirÅ Watanabe, Keiko Nobumoto, Toshihiro Kawamoto, and other members of the Sunrise animation team, Cowboy Bebop took place in a future where space was colonized by humanity after the Earth was rendered uninhabitable. The lead character was Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter (or a cowboy, as they’re called in this universe) who was joined on the Bebop by his teammates: an ex-cop called Jet Black, the deceptively youthful Faye Valentine, a young girl named Ed, and Ein, a hyper-intelligent corgi.
The Cowboy Bebop live-action TV series will have to expand upon the original story, which came to an end after only 26 episodes. However, that ambiguous ending is one of the most memorable aspects of the series. It should be interesting to see if the new adaptation recreates that moment, or if Spike’s ultimate battle would simply be another chapter in his story rather than the conclusion.
There isn’t currently a network or streaming service attached to the new Cowboy Bebop, but that may change soon.
Who would you cast in the Cowboy Bebop live-action remake? Share your picks in the comment section below!
Image: Sunrise Inc.
