Original ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Crew Weighs In On Live-Action Remake

Cowboy Bebop stands as one of anime's most acclaimed series to date. Spike Spiegel and the Bebop crew are known to millions of fans worldwide, and a live-action adaptation for the heralded series hopes to bring those characters to life soon. So, in a recent interview, ComicBook asked the original crew on Cowboy Bebop whether an adaptation of the anime is doable.

The answer turned out to be yes, but the staff said the live-action series needed to do a couple things.

Recently, Cowboy Bebop held a panel at New York Comic Con to honor the series. It was there ComicBook's Nick Valdez spoke with the show's writers and animation directors, and none of them were willing to write off a live-action take on Cowboy Bebop.

While the screenwriters said such an adaptation would be very difficult to do, it's not impossible.

"If they write the characters as attractive as the original, I think that's probably one of the main points they need to pay attention to," Keiko Nobumoto said.

Chiming in, animator director and character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto said the remake would need a powerful soundtrack if it wants to do the anime justice.

"Personally, one of the more attractive elements of Bebop is [Composer Yoko Kanno]'s music. It's one of the major reasons for the series' 20 year popularity, so if that's somehow reflected into live-action, if that's possible, then I think it can probably go better," the artist explained. "The music is a huge part of the show."

So far, there have been zero updates on the live-action Cowboy Bebop series since it was first announced. The Hollywood endeavor is being overseen by Tomorrow Studios and Sunrise. Production will be done in part with Midnight Radio, Matthew Weinberg, Becky Clements, and Marty Adelstein. Chris Yost has been tasked with writing scripts for the series, but no director or casting reveals have been made public.

Do you think this adaptation can be done faithfully if at all? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Cowboy Bebop was first produced by Sunrise in 1998. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, with scripts written by Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, and songs composed by Yoko Kanno, the series explores many existentialist philosophies as it follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel, and a group of bounty hunter misfits aboard the titular spaceship the Bebop in the year 2071.

The series premiered in Japan back in 1998, and ran for 26 episodes until 1999. It was licensed for an English language released by Bandai Entertainment and Funimation, and was the very first anime series to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in the United States.