"I think it's time we blow this city, get everybody and their stuff together.... 3, 2,1.... let's Jam!"

Shinichiro Watanabe's 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop was a modest success on its original release in Japan but it found much greater success overseas. In the years since its release, it has gone onto achieve iconic status, often considered not just one of the best anime series ever made, but one of the best series full-stop. Its 26 episodes remained in near-constant rotation on Adult Swim for years and it is consistently one of the most streamed animated series in the world. Its western influences made it a natural fit for a Hollywood live-action adaptation.

Following an aborted effort with Keanu Reeves attached, it was subsequently selected for a TV series instead, eventually landing at Netflix. Now, 20 years after Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black and the adorable Ein the dog last graced our screens (in movie outing Knocking On Heaven's Door) Netflix offer us the first set of images from the series and reveal the release date.

Experience has warned us to be wary of live-action anime adaptations (yes Ghost In The Shell I am talking about you), but it has to be said that these initial images are looking pretty promising. They seem to have got the visuals down and the characters do look pretty much like they've sprung straight out of the anime.

Cowboy Bebop will star John Cho as Spike, Mustafa Shaki as Jet, Daniella Pineda as Faye and Alex Hassell as Viscious. As previously revealed, the legendary Yoko Kanno is returning to bring us brand new music for the show, so even if the rest of the series turns out to be a clunker we'll at least get some fantastic new music out of it.

Following extensive production delays due to star John Cho sustaining an on-set injury and then the Pandemic, we now know Cowboy Bebop will finally arrive on Netflix on November 19, 2021.

See you, space cowboys...

Synopsis

COWBOY BEBOP is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.
Based on the beloved anime series, COWBOY BEBOP is executive produced by 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., Tim Coddington, Tetsu Fujimura, Michael Katleman, Matthew Weinberg, and Christopher Yost. Nemec serves as showrunner. Original anime series director Shinichirō Watanabe is a consultant on the series, and original composer Yoko Kanno returns for the live-action adaptation. The series also stars Alex Hassell and Elena Satine.