How Netflix is changing the story of Cowboy Bebop for its live-action remake

Netflix is making a live-action remake of the beloved ’90s anime Cowboy Bebop, with original creator Shinichirō Watanabe on board as a consultant. The series was known for its style and flair, a sci-fi romp that could get heavy but that never took itself too seriously; there was always a gag or a cool chase or fight sequence around the corner, all of it scored with a flaming hot jazz soundtrack from Yoko Kanno.

Translating that sense of style to live action won’t be easy, but writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach sounds up to the challenge. “You’ve got an entity that is very much a kind of gathering together of influences that were very important in post-war Japan: jazz, American pop culture, the whole sort-of cowboy thing, reality television,” he explained to Io9. “So, you’re looking at a show that’s already a commentary on the influence of American pop culture with Japanese culture in the future, in space. And then we’re taking that and then we’re…trying to translate that not just in English, but also a format that is not the original format of the show.”

"Everybody has a different idea of what the best version of a show is, and a lot of Cowboy Bebop fans believe that the anime is the best version of that show. We hope that we can convert them to look at our version of it, and think that it’s a wonderful translation, a wonderful addition to the original canon. We’re deep enough in a world that where fandom is important to the existence of shows, that people like me don’t ever really lose sight of that. I think that there are always going to be tone-deaf reboots of things and all of that, but we’re fans. You know, we come at this as fans. We love genre, we love science fiction, and we love Cowboy Bebop."

But of course, there will be changes to update the show for modern audiences. For example, one of the main character, Faye Valentine (played by Daniella Pineda in the show) wears a very revealing outfit in the anime. The show will tone that down because, as Grillo-Marxuach says, “we need to have a real human being wearing that.” You can also probably expect less smoking in this version.

But the biggest change may be structural. The original Cowboy Bebop was a lean 26 half-hour-long episodes, most of which stood completely on their own. And when the show was over, it was over, save a movie that came out afterward, which was also a standalone adventure. But the new show will have hour-long episodes, and Grillo-Marxuach and his team intend to have them tie together.

"You’ve got a show where you have 26 episodes that are full of very colorful villains, very colorful stories, very colorful adversaries, bounties, and all of that. We’re not going to go one-to-one on all of those stories because we’re also trying to tell the broader story of Spike Spiegel and the Syndicate, Spike Spiegel and Julia, Spike Spiegel and Vicious, and all that. But we are looking at the show and saying, ‘Who are some of the great villains in this show, and how can we put them into this into this broader narrative?’ So that we are telling both of the big stories that Cowboy Bebop tells."

Although production on the show is delayed at the moment, Grillo-Marxuach also says that the team is already working on season 2, indicating that the team is going to eventually go beyond anything the original show did. And I’m fine with having another take on Cowboy Bebop — the original is already great, so there’s no need to remake it beat for beat — but it’s going to be hard for this team to strike out on its own while still staying true to the base show.

One element Grillo-Marxuach is very confident about is star John Cho (Sulu in the Star Trek reboot movies), who plays bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. “You’ve seen him in comedies. You’ve seen him in dramas. The guy can do anything,” Grillo-Marxuach said. “To see John Cho bring his wonderful mastery of acting to this character, and then also to see the level of physical preparation that he’s done for this, is stunning.”

"[Co-writer] Chris Yost and I wrote this on a notecard and tacked it up to our whiteboard in the room. His motto for Spike Spiegel was always: Spike Spiegel is super fucking cool. Is he tortured? Yes. Does he have a lot of tragedy in his backstory? Yes. Is he somebody who’s not the most sort of effusive with his emotions kind of guy? Yes, you know this. But he’s super fucking cool. So, I think more than anything else, Spiegel’s super fucking cool. John brings that to it in spades."

Unfortunately, one of the reasons for the production delay is that Cho hurt his leg on set, and is still recovering. (The other, obviously, is the coronavirus, which has put a stop to just about every production on Earth, although things are slowly starting back up.) But there was never any question in Grillo-Marxuach’s mind about recasting; he can’t wait for audiences to see what Cho brings to the table.

He’s also enthusiastic that they’ve cast an Asian actor in the lead role, sidestepping the problems that other live-action anime adaptations have encountered. “Spike Spiegel has to be Asian,” Grillo-Marxuach said. “Like, you can’t Scarlett Johansson this shit. We are making a show that takes place in a future that is multicultural, that is extraordinarily integrated and where those things are the norm.”

In addition to Cho and Pineda, other cast members include Mustafa Shakir as Jet, Spike’s partner in the bounty hunting business; and Alex Hassell as his sworn enemy Vicious. And of course, there’s Ein the space corgi:

The one big casting choice I haven’t heard about is Ed, the young super-hacker who joins this motley crew of space cowboys as they jet around the universe getting into trouble. She’ll be a tricky character to get right, but it’s hard to imagine Cowboy Bebop without her.

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