It has been two decades since the first episode of Cowboy Bebop came out and the series is still one of the most well-known and prolific anime series among fans.
While the rumour-mills have been rife with speculations around a live-action take on the series, this time it’s actually true and official.
Netflix has officially licensed the in-the-works live-action Cowboy Bebop series for a 10 episode run. The series will be a co-production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, with director of the original series, Shinichiro Watanabe serving as a consultant on the new project.
Andre Nemec, Josh Appelbaum, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio will serve as executive producers along with Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki, and Shin Sasaki from the original anime’s studio Sunrise.
Cowboy Bebop was first produced by Sunrise in 1998. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, the script was written by Keiko Nobumoto with Toshihiro Kawamoto and Yoko Kanno as character designer and song composer respectively.
The series explores many existentialist philosophies as it follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel and a group of bounty hunter misfits straddling the titular spaceship the Bebop in the year 2071.
It has been confirmed that the first episode of the series will be written by Thor: Ragnarok scribe, Christopher Yost. Though his association to the series was known as well, it was in an unconfirmed capacity earlier.
The series debuted in Japan back in 1998, and ran for 26 episodes until 1999. It was licensed for an English language release by Bandai Entertainment and Funimation. Pegged by millenials as a portal to the world of anime overall, it has almost had a cult-like following. Expectation have continued to soar in regards to its release since. We will keep the fans posted on further developments.
