‘Cowboy Bebop’ Live-Action Series Coming to Netflix

Cowboy Bebop has just recently turned 20 years old, and the series is still one of the most popular and prolific anime series among fans. There have been talks of a live-action take on the series before, but now it’s realer than ever.

Netflix has officially licensed the in-the-works live-action Cowboy Bebop series for a ten episode run.

The series will be a co-production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios (which had been working on the live-action series since sometime last year) 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, and Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki, and Shin Sasaki from the original anime’s studio Sunrise will also executive produce as well.

Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Tetsu Fujimura, and Matthew Weinberg have signed on to produce the series also, with Netflix handling physical production. While there are few concrete details about the project, it has been confirmed that the first episode of the series will be written by Thor: Ragnarok scribe, Christopher Yost. Though his attachment to the series was previously known as well, it was in an unconfirmed capacity.

Interestingly enough, ComicBook.com was able to ask some of Cowboy Bebop‘s original anime staff about the possible live-action series at New York Comic-Con. Screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto said it would be difficult, but 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.”

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. It’s often credited by fans from the 2000s as a major “gateway” show to the world of anime overall and has gone on to major critical, cult, and commercial success.