Cowboy Bebop is an American space Western television series. It is a live action series based on the 1998 Japanese anime television series Cowboy Bebop and the 2001 anime film Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. Set in the year 2071, it charts the adventures of a ragtag group of bounty hunters chasing down criminals across the Solar System on the Bebop spaceship.
The series was developed by Christopher Yost, with André Nemec as showrunner, and stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine and Alex Hassell. The ten-episode series was released on Netflix on November 19, 2021, and was criticized for its writing, special effects, editing and action sequences, but was praised for its cast. Shinichirō Watanabe, the original series' director, publicly criticized the show for being disloyal to the source material. Less than a month later on December 9, 2021, Netflix canceled the series after one season, leaving the series on a cliffhanger.
Cast and characters
Main John Cho as Spike Spiegel (also known as "Fearless"): a bounty hunter born on Mars with a history of violent gang activity and extensive fist-fighting and marksmanship abilities. For the role, Cho grew out his hair to mimic Spike's look from the anime. The anime director, Shinichirō Watanabe, explained in Cowboy Bebop: The Movie DVD extra that Spike was originally based on Yūsaku Matsuda, a Japanese-Korean actor."Spike: A Complex Soul". Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine: a bounty hunter who woke up without her memories after being revived from cryosleep. Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black: Spike's partner, former ISSP detective, and captain of the Bebop, who has a cybernetic arm. He spent five years in prison over a wrongful conviction. Alex Hassell as Vicious: Spike's nemesis, a power-hungry gangster from the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate who was Spike's closest friend before they had a falling out. Elena Satine as Julia: a femme fatale who is as smart as she is beautiful. She has a complicated past with Spike and Vicious and is the object of both of their affections. Additionally, Welsh Corgi dog actors Charlie and Harry play Ein, a dog with special abilities.
Recurring Tamara Tunie as Ana: The proprietor of an underground jazz club on Mars who acts as a surrogate mother to Spike. Mason Alexander Park as Gren: A jazz musician working for Ana, who is also Ana's right-hand. The character was reimagined as non-binary for the show. Ira Munn and Lucy Currey as Punch and Judy: The duo hosts of Big Shot, a bounty hunter public program. Geoff Stults as Chalmers: A detective in the Intra Solar System Police (ISSP) who is married to Jet's ex-wife. Carmel McGlone as Woodcock: Jet's informant. Rachel House as Mao: A crime boss who leads the Syndicate's "White Tigers" family. Ann Truong and Hoa Xuande as Shin and Lin: Twin siblings employed as Vicious' enforcers. John Noble as Caliban: One of the three Elders who control the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate.
Guest Eden Perkins as Radical Ed: A hyperactive child prodigy skilled in hacking. Jan Uddin and Lydia Peckham as Asimov and Katerina Solensan: A romantic couple on the run from the law hoping for a big score to secure their future. Cali Nelle as Abdul Hakim: A thief and killer who uses a "face-changer" to hide his true appearance. Nathaniel Lees as the Sushi Chef: Spike's informant. Adrienne Barbeau as Maria Murdock: An eco-fascist mastermind who will go to extremes to protect nature. Matthias Luafutu as Udai Taxim: A fugitive connected to Jet's past career as a detective. Wade Williams as Fad: Jet's ex-partner in the ISSP. Jade Harlow as Mel: A mechanic hired by Jet to repair the Bebop and its aging engine, who has a brief romantic fling with Faye. Sinead Fitzgerald as Holo-Beatrice: A computer generated receptionist who is the face of The Londes Centre Josh Randall as Pierrot Le Fou: An assassin whose sanity was damaged from intensive scientific experimentation, leaving him with the mindset of a sadistic child. Rodney Cook as the voice of the Teddy Bomber: A terrorist who uses explosive teddy bears to rebel against the government and what he views as a corrupt capitalist society. Christine Dunford as Whitney Haggis Matsumoto: A con artist posing as Faye's "mother", who found her while she was still in cryo-sleep. The character was originally male in the anime. Tyson Ritter as The Iron Mink: A notorious intergalactic arms dealer who is secretly married to Whitney. James Hiroyuki Liao as Tanaka
Additionally, Blessing Mokgohloa portrays Santiago, and Molly Moriarty plays Kimmie Black, Jet's daughter.
Episodes
Production Development On June 6, 2017, it was announced that an American live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop was being developed for television by Tomorrow Studios—a partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios, alongside Sunrise Inc., which also produced the original anime—with Christopher Yost as the series writer. On November 27, 2018, Netflix announced that the live action series would be heading to its streaming service. One of the Tomorrow Studios' producers, André Nemec, was appointed as the showrunner who previously discovered the anime through his brother around 2011. In an interview with Vanity Fair on October 26, 2021, Yost said he had already started planning a second season for the series before writing the first season, which is something Nemec also hinted at. However, on December 9, 2021, Netflix canceled the series after one season.
Casting On April 4, 2019, Variety reported that John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda and Alex Hassell were cast in lead roles as Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Vicious in the series. On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Elena Satine was cast as Julia. On November 19, 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Geoff Stults, Tamara Tunie, Mason Alexander Park, Rachel House, Ann Truong and Hoa Xuande have been cast as Chalmers, Ana, Gren, Mao, Shin and Lin. James Hiroyuki Liao had joined the cast by August 2021, along with Blessing Mokgohloa as Santiago and Molly Moriarty as Kimmie Black. On September 25, 2021, Jan Uddin and Lydia Peckham, Adrienne Barbeau, Josh Randall, Rodney Cook, and Ira Munn and Lucy Currey were officially cast as Asimov and Katerina Solensan, Maria Murdock, Pierrot Le Fou, Teddy Bomber, and Punch and Judy. Cali Nelle was also confirmed to play Abdul Hakim.
When Cho came across the project, he remarked about the anime, "It's really interesting and smart and funny... All the characters are coming from places of loss, and there are a lot of defense mechanisms to deal with that sense of loss that informs the whole show." He continued, "I investigated the anime and just thought this was the most unique piece of entertainment I had seen in a long time: the combination of genres, characters, the music." He later called Aneesh Chaganty, his director on Searching (2018), to talk about the project. Cho remembered that Chaganty encouraged him saying, "You have to do it."
On October 27, 2021, in an interview with SyFy Wire, Nemec explained he purposely cast older actors and defended his choice that it would build richer stories for the characters, saying, "I think that really became clear to me that to really feel for these characters, to really want to track and live with them, they needed real depth of life experience in their soul. And that was something that John brought. I can't imagine anyone being Spike Spiegel but John Cho because John brings a depth to the character. He's incredibly facile with humor. He's quick-witted. He can be laconic like Spike Spiegel. I think the anime had true moments of ennui, and true moments of dramatic pain that really did require someone, again, with that depth that John brought. While in the anime, it's okay to sort of play the younger version. But in today's world and in live action, the actor needed to be able to bring that essence as well. And that just required a more mature actor."
Several of the original Japanese voice actors from the anime were involved in the live-action adaption, reprising their roles for the Japanese dub of the show. The Japanese voice actor for Spike, Kōichi Yamadera said, "I have long anticipated a live action version. I can feel the strong respect it has toward the anime. I hope that viewers will see the atmosphere of the Spike character that I previously portrayed in John Cho's performance, who is skillfully taking on the role in this version. There are also many settings and developments that can only be pulled off in a live action series. I hope that both people who love Cowboy Bebop and those who are new to the title can enjoy this new series!"
The casting of newcomer Eden Perkins as Radical Ed was announced on the day of the series' release to Netflix, though only appears in the final scenes of the tenth episode. According to Nemec, "To keep the mystery around the character was to not necessarily want to promise that this was going to be a season that was inclusive of Ed, to not necessarily put something that many may find is disappointing out into the world. But in fairness, Ed doesn't show up in the anime until many episodes in, maybe about a third of the way through the entire series. So, it felt fair to also keep Ed from showing up [in live-action]."
Pre-production Nemec and the writers also looked beyond the source material to the movies that influenced the original anime director, Shinichirō Watanabe, when he devoted the anime with studio Sunrise in the 1990s. To bring Cowboy Bebop to the reality of cinema, the Netflix team drew inspiration from such films as The Big Sleep (1946), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), Lethal Weapon (1987), and The Crow (1994). "We put a pretty extensive and expansive list together, and we spent a lot of time really looking at the inspirations", Nemec said. The showrunner did not watch much other anime or even live-action anime adaptations in preparation for the show.
Nemec also said that while it was important to be faithful to source material, they wanted to craft their own story—that "there were so many things that work [in the anime], but at the same time, not wanting to do a one-to-one translation because I wanted to be served, if I were a fan, a different meal."
Regarding Faye Valentine's wardrobe changes, Pineda said: "You know, we tried with the original. But in the original outfit, which is so lovely, it's hard to hide stunt pads and gel pads and back plates and things you need when you're falling and kicking and doing stunts." She worked with head of costume design Jane Holland to design a functioning outfit for the live-action character. Holland said: "...As a woman, I felt resistant to the idea of the lead female character being gratuitous or overtly sexualized. It's not about it not being revealing, it's not about any of that, it's actually got all of those elements. But my take on it is that it's designed by a woman and it was made by a lot of women, and it's worn by a woman. So the same elements are there but they have just manifested in a different way." She also explained it would be easier for Pineda to work in this outfit than if she were dressed how Faye was in the anime: "It's definitely aesthetically driven but there's a practical element as well...There's a lot of action. we filmed over a long period of time through different seasons. We had a lot of night shifts in Oakland so Jet and Spike were fine, because they had practical, much more practical clothing, in the anime. [Pineda] needed that as well."
The cast initially trained with stunt team 87eleven Action Design, then with New Zealander stunt coordinator Allan Poppleton of Cunning Stunts.
Filming