Netflix Reveals Images and Release Date for Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Series

Television

On Monday, August the 23rd, Netflix officially announced the release date for season 1 of their live-action Cowboy Bebop series. Several new cast images were also released, providing a glimpse at the look and feel of the reimagining and the live-action iterations of their costumes. Season 1 drops on Netflix on Friday, November the 9th. While the original Cowboy Bebop consisted of only one 26-episode season, the live-action series isn’t expected to be a miniseries. Shinichirō Watanabe, director of the original series, serves as a consultant on the remake while composer Yoko Kanno is returning to score the episodes. John Cho will star as Spike Spiegel, with Mustafa Shakir as his main man, Jet. Daniella Pineda will round out the trio as Faye Valentine. While super-intelligent, adorable corgi Ein is included in the photos, the crew’s wild card Edward is nowhere to be seen. You can view the new photos below: 

I haven’t been too excited at the prospect of a live-action Cowboy Bebop series. This is something a lot of people have been wanting, but I don’t get the appeal. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an animated property I want to see remade in live-action because I think it’s missing the point entirely. The original Cowboy Bebop was extremely adult and highly accessible to a Western audience where many anime aren’t. The quirky, character-driven space Western plays like a Japanese creator’s love letter to Western pop culture. I can see why this would lead some people to campaign for an American live-action adaptation, but it’s unnecessary. The eccentric mish-mash of medium, influences, and genres represented in the anime made for a truly unique experience, and any attempt to replicate that or add to it seems questionable to me. This also plays into the stupid idea so many people have that animation is for kids, no matter its rating or subject matter. A movie or series shouldn’t have to be live-action for people to want to see it. I also wonder how they plan to implement the musical nature of the show; will they include the same rock songs from the original or feature different music? Will they forego this aspect of the series entirely? I could see any of these possibilities not going over well. 

That being said, these photos do look pretty good, especially John Cho as Spike. I wonder if he’ll have the charisma Steve Blum brought to the role, but at least he looks great. Mustafa Shakir as Jet and Ein the corgi both look good too. I can’t help wondering where Radical Ed is and when we’ll see her, and Daniella Pineda isn’t doing it for me. I don’t expect (or want) the live-action Faye to be as cartoonishly well-endowed as her anime counterpart. After all, no matter how some might deny it or say it’s offensive, animation is the art of exaggeration and caricature. That being said, I do expect Faye to ooze sex appeal as she did in the original. Maybe Pineda will be more convincing in action, but I’m convinced Cho and Shakir at least have the look down. I would never have known this was supposed to be Faye if I saw her in isolation without any context. I think it’s great that the original director and composer are involved, though. I’ll probably check this out when it releases, though with tempered expectations. 

What do you think of the images? Are you excited to see the Bebop cruise in live-action? Let us know in the comments below!