The classic anime series gets a jazzed-up live-action Netflix adaptation that honors its roots while breaking new ground.
(SeeGhost in the Shell,Dragonball Evolution,Speed Racer.)
“We were all in agreement that we wanted to honor the material and also contribute something original.
Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, Jan Uddin as Asimov, and John Cho as Spike Spiegel in ‘Cowboy Bebop’.KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX
What we talked about more than anything else was ‘Is this in the spirit ofCowboy Bebop?'”
The new show features many direct callouts to the anime.
Frankly, he says, “That’s no fun.”
Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black in ‘Cowboy Bebop’.KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX
Also helping channel that spirit is Kanno, who’s back as composer.
The score sets the mood, but Cho got into character by molding his body.
After throwing himself into training, “things started to fall into place,” Cho says.
Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine in ‘Cowboy Bebop’.GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX
The character’s skill set “started to inform things.”
“There’s an inexactness about it.”
That ranges from complex fight choreography to simple expressions.
Mason Alexander Park as Gren in ‘Cowboy Bebop’.GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX
Shakir was also determined to do more than a “mimeograph” of his anime counterpart.
“[The production] looked everywhere for that woman, and they couldn’t find her.
It’s kinda weird.
So they just went with my short ass,” she said in the video.
Funny enough, it was probably the most quintessential Faye thing she could’ve done.
And fans took note.
“The spirit of the anime is more than the costume of Faye Valentine,” Nemec says.
“There is a whole real person that exists underneath.”
Pineda describes that person as “a survivor.”
She’s really funny.
Any opportunity I got to add more comedic color to her, I really pushed for that."
In the anime, Gren was a man who grew breasts as a side effect of a drug.
Two decades later, Nemec wanted to make that detail officially canon.
“Gren does not have a good history of becoming a nonbinary character.
“I never wantedCowboy Bebopto be a picture of a dystopian future.
I wanted it to be nostalgic, but also hopeful.
A person being nonbinary isn’t a discussion.
It’s just a fact.”
Beyond Gren’s gender identity, Nemec focused on what made the character feel integral to the series.
Gren was driven by music.
Building on the establishedBebopworld was a mission Nemec’s team extended beyond the characters.
And then someone else has spilled something else on the floor and that’s been painted over.
And you just get these layers, and lay- ers, and layers.”
Regardless, the showrunner believes his team “told really beautiful stories along the way.
I think the fans are really going to be pleased.”
Then there’s only one thing left to say: 3, 2, 1, let’s jam!
A version of this story appears inEntertainment Weekly’s December issue, on newsstands Friday andavailable to order here.
