What we know about the Cowboy Bebop TV series

The iconic 1990s Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop is coming back to screens in a TV series version: everything we know

Fan expectations are really high for the arrival of the live-action of the iconic Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop. The new TV series will stream on Netflix the adventures of bounty hunters and intergalactic cowboys Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Faye Valentine, along with Ein, short for Einstein.

As the release date approaches, rumors are starting to circulate. The plot and style of the Cowboy Bebop television series will be faithful to the original anime, maintaining its spirit and irony. The plot alternates between the hunt for criminals on the run in the solar system, while intertwining the stories of intergalactic cowboys on the run from their past. Reassuring fans is the special teaser released by Netflix, in which the actors show a hunt for the villain and take turns in scathing shots and dialogue. The lead actors are John Cho, as Spike, Mustafa Shakir plays Jet Black and Daniella Pineda is Faye Valentine.

Cowboy Bebop: live-action plot

Cowboy Bebop is a space western and the live-action retraces the story of the 1990s Japanese anime of the same name from which it is based. The main characters are Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter and intergalactic cowboy along with Jet Black and Faye Valentine. The personal story of these three bounty hunters, who are on the run from their past, is intertwined with the trail of the criminals they hunt in the solar system.

The setting is in the distant future, where the three cowboys travel aboard the spaceship Bebop. They are accompanied by the cute little dog Einstein, known as Ein, generically modified in the lab for some experiments and with an almost human intelligence.

Secondary characters include Vicious, Spike's former partner and Red Dragon's most famous assassin, and the femme fatale Julia, who has a complicated past divided between Spike and Vicious.

Cowboy Bebop: cast, director, production

The cast of Cowboy Bebop sees the three main characters played by John Cho (Spike Spiegel), Mustafa Shakir (Jet Black), and Daniella Pineda (Faye Valentine). The series also features Alex Hassel (Vicious), while femme fatale Julia is played by Elena Satine.

Executive producers are André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Makoto Asanuma, Shin Sasaki and Masayuki Ozaki of Sunrise Inc. and Tim Coddington, Tetsu Fujimura, Michael Katleman, Matthew Weinberg and Christopher Yost. Nemec also serves as showrunner.

The director of the original anime series, Shinichirō Watanabe, is also a consultant on the live-acion, while composer Yoko Kanno is in charge of the music.

Cowboy Bebop: when it arrives on streaming

The Cowboy Bebop TV series will come streaming on the Netflix platform starting November 19, 2021.

In anticipation of the arrival, starting October 21 also on Netflix it will be possible to review all 26 episodes of the original Cowboy Bebop anime.