It feels like forever now that Netflix announced their plan to adapt iconic 1998 anime series “Cowboy Bebop” into a live-action series. The year 2019 saw the introduction of the major cast members, as well as the start of production for the show. After that there has been little noise about “Bebop” except for some accidents on the set that caused things to grind to a halt. And then the year 2020 and all the bad things associated with it rolled by. Just when the memory of this series in the making was ready to fade, a lead star announced great news: it is done.
Screen Rant tells us that the Netflix streaming series adaptation of “Cowboy Bebop” has completed its inaugural season production. This was revealed on social media by cast member Daniella Padilla (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and the upcoming “Dominion”) as of last week. Her Instagram post confirms the wrap-up of season 1 of the series, which also stars John Cho (J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek”), Mustapha Shakir (Marvel-Netflix “Luke Cage”), Alex Hassell (Prime Video’s “The Boys”) and Elena Satine (Fox’s “The Gifted”).
The original plan was for “Cowboy Bebop” to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2020. Unfortunately Cho injured his knee while shooting in October 2019, holding up production by about eight months. That led to the 2020 COVID pandemic which shut down much of entertainment production in general. Six episodes’ worth of footage was filmed before Cho was injured, with three of them completed. Production was resumed by September last year. Film, animation and comic-book writer Christopher Yost (“Thor: Ragnarok”) serves as executive producer and principal writer of the series, with original anime producer Shinichiro Watanabe as creative consultant, and even original composer Yoko Kanno being engaged to do the soundtrack.
Netflix looks to be slotting in their “Cowboy Bebop” adaptation to premiere sometime this year. Fans of the original anime have been somewhat apprehensive of this remake following the streaming giant’s live-action take on “Death Note” which Americanized the characters and setting to mixed reception. Scripts for a planned second season have also been mentioned.
Image courtesy of GameSpot
Morgan Magazine 