First Teaser For The Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Starring John Cho

Take a look at the first teaser for the live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop. It's a chance to see John Cho cast as Spike Siegel.

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

John Cho is getting set to take on an iconic and somewhat legendary anime production in a live-action series. It has the chance to be an amazingly cool show, something that could do the original quite a bit of justice, which is saying a lot. And we are starting to get a sense of what could be coming to the screen. Netflix just released its first teaser for the live-action Cowboy Bebop which is in post-production now. We don’t have a look into the series yet, but we can start getting a sense of the style. 

The teaser for the live-action Cowboy Bebop came through the Twitter account @NetflixGeeked and shares some of the soundtrack for the new show. It has John Cho and other series stars Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda be-bopping along to the soundtrack composed by Yoko Kanno. Kanno scored the original movie and is back for the live-action remake as well, lending some genius blues and jazz to the production that will certainly have a distinct vision and vibe. Check it out:

From the moment John Cho flips his collar and gets into his Spike Siegel persona, it’s clear what kind of show this is going to be. Sure, these are just the main actors and actresses sitting down for an interview, in their costumes mind you, but they get into the grooving pretty quickly. The teaser celebrates the music of the show right off the bat, with the cool news that Kanno is back. 

Cowboy Bebop is based on the wildly popular limited anime series of the same name. It first came out in Japan in 1997 and was dubbed over for an English language version as well. It tells the story of a future society in which bounty hunters patrol our solar system looking for criminals. Earth isn’t habitable anymore, but humans have found a way to set up shop in some other places. The original group consists of Spike Siegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda), and Vicious (Alex Hassell). In the series, there are plenty of other relevant characters and there’s some chance we get the full breadth of things over the course of the series. This is set to possibly begin a larger franchise. 

Cowboy Bebop is generally considered one of the very best anime productions ever made, routinely topping lists in the genre. It was universally acclaimed at the time and the story still holds up now. For an animated production, the themes were more adult in nature and it had crossover appeal to a number of different age demographics. It looks like John Cho and company are going to bring a similar vibe to the series

For all the anticipation for Cowboy Bebop, there have been setbacks along the way. Production was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and then John Cho did suffer a knee injury on set which delayed shooting for more than six months. But things are back on track now, and the show is set to release sometime on Netflix this year.