Netflix reveals that the long-awaited live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop will release on the streaming platform on November 19. Based on Keiko Nobumoto and Shinichirō Watanabe's anime of the same name, the series centers on Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Faye Valentine, three bounty hunters in the future who hunt down the solar system's most dangerous criminals on the titular ship. However, the trio will eventually find themselves forced to confront the demons of their past.
Premiering in 1998, Cowboy Bebop has been celebrated by critics and audiences alike and credited with introducing Western viewers to the anime genre. Development on the live-action series began in mid-2017 when Tomorrow Studios and original producer Sunrise Inc. partnered for a new series with Christopher Yost writing, Jeff Pinkner and André Nemec developing and the latter serving as showrunner. The cast for the series would begin building shortly thereafter as John Cho, Daniella Pineda and Mustafa Shakir signed on to star as Spike, Faye and Jet, respectively, with production initially beginning in October 2019 but suffering multiple delays due to Cho's on-set injury early into filming and the COVID-19 shutdown.
Alongside revealing the first photos from the series, Netflix has announced that Cowboy Bebop will officially premiere on the streaming platform on November 19. The first season is set to consist of 10 episodes, though no runtime has been confirmed for said episodes. Netflix had previously confirmed that the series would premiere in Fall 2021 earlier this year.
Given the bumpy road the series has faced since its initial delay in production from Cho's injury, confirmation of Cowboy Bebop's November premiere should come as exciting for fans of the anime. The shutdown in production may have delayed the series from its original 2020 release window, but it did also see original series director Watanabe brought on as a creative consultant after initially being left out from the project as well as original composer Yoko Kanno. Where some may have initially been skeptical about the series, especially given the more mixed reception for Netflix's live-action adaptation of Death Note, all of these elements have steered anticipation in a positive direction.
The first images for Cowboy Bebop also come as a solid build of anticipation for the series, highlighting the anime-accurate designs for the central cast as well as the titular ship. With season 1 of the series set to be composed of 10 episodes, it will be interesting to see what stories from the anime are brought to life in the live-action adaptation and which are saved for the potential season 2. Only time will tell when Cowboy Bebop arrives on Netflix on November 19.
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