Development On June 6, 2017, it was announced that an American
live action adaptation of
Cowboy Bebop was being developed for television by Tomorrow Studios—a partnership between
Marty Adelstein and
ITV Studios, alongside
Sunrise Inc., which also produced the original
anime—with
Christopher Yost as the series writer. On November 27, 2018,
Netflix announced that the live action series would be heading to its streaming service. One of the Tomorrow Studios' producers,
André Nemec, was appointed as the showrunner who previously discovered the anime through his brother around 2011. In an interview with
Vanity Fair on October 26, 2021, Yost said he had already started planning a second season for the series before writing the first season, which is something Nemec also hinted at. However, on December 9, 2021, Netflix canceled the series after one season. On August 22, 2019, it was announced that
Elena Satine was cast as
Julia. On November 19, 2020,
Deadline Hollywood reported that
Geoff Stults,
Tamara Tunie,
Mason Alexander Park,
Rachel House, Ann Truong and Hoa Xuande have been cast as Chalmers, Ana,
Gren, Mao,
Shin and
Lin.
James Hiroyuki Liao had joined the cast by August 2021, Cali Nelle was also confirmed to play Abdul Hakim. On October 27, 2021, in an interview with
SyFy Wire, Nemec explained he purposely cast older actors and defended his choice that it would build richer stories for the characters, saying, "I think that really became clear to me that to really feel for these characters, to really want to track and live with them, they needed real depth of life experience in their soul. And that was something that John brought. I can't imagine anyone being Spike Spiegel but John Cho because John brings a depth to the character. He's incredibly facile with humor. He's quick-witted. He can be laconic like Spike Spiegel. I think the anime had true moments of ennui, and true moments of dramatic pain that really did require someone, again, with that depth that John brought. While in the anime, it's okay to sort of play the younger version. But in today's world and in live action, the actor needed to be able to bring that essence as well. And that just required a more mature actor." Several of the original Japanese voice actors from the anime were involved in the live-action adaption, reprising their roles for the Japanese dub of the show. The Japanese voice actor for Spike,
Kōichi Yamadera said, "I have long anticipated a live action version. I can feel the strong respect it has toward the anime. I hope that viewers will see the atmosphere of the Spike character that I previously portrayed in John Cho's performance, who is skillfully taking on the role in this version. There are also many settings and developments that can only be pulled off in a live action series. I hope that both people who love
Cowboy Bebop and those who are new to the title can enjoy this new series!"
Pre-production Nemec and the writers also looked beyond the source material to the movies that influenced the original anime director,
Shinichirō Watanabe, when he devoted the anime with studio Sunrise in the 1990s. To bring
Cowboy Bebop to the reality of cinema, the Netflix team drew inspiration from such films as
The Big Sleep (1946),
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966),
Bonnie and Clyde (1967),
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968),
Dirty Harry (1971),
Lethal Weapon (1987), and
The Crow (1994). "We put a pretty extensive and expansive list together, and we spent a lot of time really looking at the inspirations," Nemec said. Nemec also said that while it was important to be faithful to source material, they wanted to craft their own story—that "there were so many things that work [in the anime], but at the same time, not wanting to do a one-to-one translation because I wanted to be served, if I were a fan, a different meal." Regarding Faye Valentine's wardrobe changes, Pineda said: "You know, we tried with the original. But in the original outfit, which is so lovely, it's hard to hide stunt pads and gel pads and back plates and things you need when you're falling and kicking and doing stunts." She worked with head of costume design Jane Holland to design a functioning outfit for the live-action character. The cast initially trained with stunt team 87eleven Action Design, then with New Zealander stunt coordinator Allan Poppleton of Cunning Stunts.
Filming Filming took place in 185 locations around
Auckland, New Zealand, between July 2019 and March 2021, including the
Bastion Point Reserve,
Auckland War Memorial,
Auckland Harbour Cloud, the former
Auckland Railway Station,
Ardmore Airport,
St Matthew's Church,
Spark Arena,
Waitawa Regional Park,
Karangahape Road and
Kingsland railway station. 150 locals were involved in the art and construction teams. According to production manager Clayton Tikao, Auckland was picked since its urban environment fitted the series' "grottier" aesthetic. The delay gave the showrunners extra time to bring some of the planned second-season elements into the first season, such as introducing characters and casting them, including
Mason Alexander Park as Gren, who originally was introduced in the series' thirteenth episode. On April 17, 2020, it was revealed that episodes would be one hour in length, allowing more in-depth storytelling; and that second-season scripting had already begun to be explored. On May 19, in an interview with
SyFy Wire, Adelstein revealed that three episodes had already been completed, and that they had shot at least six before Cho's knee injury. He also said that the anime series' director,
Shinichirō Watanabe, would be involved as a
creative consultant. Watanabe later said in November 2019: "I read the initial concept and provided my opinions, but I'm not sure if they will be reflected in the final product. I have no choice but to pray and hope that it will turn out good. Also, for
Cowboy Bebop, I don't have any right to stop it. Those rights are in the hands of Sunrise, so if you have a complaint, please send it to them." In October 2021,
Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Watanabe had served as a consultant for the series, Sunrise provided original character concept drawings, ships, props, sets, and locations as references. Watanabe said: "For me, it's a great surprise and honor that the
Cowboy Bebop universe has thrived for over 20 years and will continue onward." Filming officially wrapped on March 15, 2021. In August 2021, it was revealed that original show creator
Hajime Yatate, actually a pseudonym for the collective Sunrise animation staff, was interested in writing episodes.
Music Yoko Kanno composed the series' music, while
"Tank!", the original anime series' opening theme, was used in the opening credits. In an August 2021 interview with
Vulture magazine, Cho talked about accepting his role and Kanno's involvement with the live action adaptation: "I made sure that she was locked in before saying yes. I didn't think the show should go forward without her involvement. [She is] too integral to the show. Our iteration minus her would suffer too much." On September 8, 2021, Nemec said in a
Polygon interview: "Yoko's involvement in this show to me was paramount to almost everything else." == Release ==