Netflix's Cowboy Bebop Addresses Concerns About Whitewashing

The producer behind Netflix's upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop series recently addressed whitewashing concerns fans had about the cast. Kicking off production in full last year, the upcoming Cowboy Bebop series will be a joint production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios. Speaking with Syfy about a current Tomorrow Studios project, Snowpiecer, producer for the Cowboy Bebop series Marty Adelstein addressed some of the potential concerns fans had about the live-action series potentially whitewashing the cast of one of the most iconic multi-cultural anime projects of all time. The team behind the series is definitely making sure to avoid those kinds of concerns.

As Adelstein spoke about the progress of the Cowboy Bebop series, the producer opened up about the completed work he has seen thus far. It's here he mentions how they went "out of [their] way" to make sure to avoid the same kind of pitfalls that other live-action anime adaptations have had in the past.

Adelstein stated, "...we have gone out of our way, because of all these anime movies that have come out and been accused of being whitewashed, we have really gone out of our way. We have the original composer, Yoko Kanno, doing music. The characters are all sort of multiethnic, and it's a great cast. And the two episodes I have seen are so much fun. It's really fun."

While production for the new live-action series officially began last year, it was delayed long before the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic following an on-set injury for the lead, John Cho. Cho will be leading the new series as Spike Spiegel, and the rest of the cast has been confirmed to keep the same multicultural spirit of the original series.

Adelstein also mentioned how three of the currently planned ten episodes were completed as of the time of the interview, and progress on the others had been delayed following Cho's injury. There have been various rumors and reports about the kinds of potential changes Netflix's new live-action series will be making to the original anime franchise, but naturally none of those reports have yet to be confirmed.

Netflix has yet to slate an official release date for the Cowboy Bebop live-action series, but ComicBook.com will be here to share any updates. But what do you think of its progress so far? Were you concerned about its live-action cast? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

via Syfy