You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t consider “Cowboy Bebop” to be a top-tier anime that deserves the live-action adaptation treatment. Netflix has been hard at work to bring everyone’s favorite space bounty hunters to their streaming services. And despite a few setbacks like on-set injuries and the pandemic, it looks like Spike Spiegel (John Cho) and the gang are finally getting ready for their debut. According to a new press release from Netflix, you can expect to see the Space Cowboy on November 19, 2021.
In addition to the release date announcement, Netflix has also dropped a handful of images of Cho in action, jazzy hair, blue suit, and tight muscular physique and all, along with Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda as Jet Black and Faye Valentine. Some of the imagery within these knew photos are iconic to fans of the anime series. In one, we see Spike walking down a set of pews in a church, which will remind fans of the time he had an encounter with his former friend now rival Vicious (Alex Hassell). Another sees Spike training against a Wing-Chun Dummy. Though that isn’t an immediate callback, it does have similar vibes to when we were first introduced to him in the anime debut.
And the other photos capture much of the anime’s aesthetics like the neon soaked lights, Bebop’s hatch, and of course, the Spike’s favorite headphones. If anything, it honestly feels like they are holding back on Faye’s costume design. One has to wonder what the decision was to make it more conservative than her animated counterpart, who though hypersexualized, was a cunning and thieving bounty hunter. So I am definitely interested in hearing why the change. That being said, seeing a Latina Faye Valentine is something I never expected and look forward to seeing.
And while it’s no trailer the images should be enough to satiate our appetites until Netflix releases one. Until then, we will have to be patient and wait.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for “Cowboy Bebop:”
COWBOY BEBOP is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.
The live-action “Cowboy Bebop” series is created by André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner, with Alex Garcia Lopez (“Daredevil,”) and Michael Katleman (“Primeval”) acting as directors. Original anime series director Shinichiro Watanabe serves as a consultant for the show, and original composer Yoko Kanno returns to do the score.
“Cowboy Bebop” makes its streaming debut on Netflix on November 19, 2021.
