Netflix's Cowboy Bebop TV show has finally received a release date – and it'll land on the streaming giant before the end of 2021.
Announcing its launch date on social media on August 23, Netflix confirmed that its live-action adaptation of the beloved anime series will arrive on November 19.
The reveal was accompanied by some first-look images, which show off John Cho's Spike Speigel, Mustafa Shakir's Jet Black and Daniella Pineda's Faye Valentine in their iconic costumes.
Take a look at the first images for the Twitter thread below:
LET'S JAM pic.twitter.com/oJqYsvAcARAugust 23, 2021
Little is known about the show's plot outside of a very brief synopsis. According to the show's Netflix page, Cowboy Bebop will follow "a ragtag crew of bounty hunters chases down the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. They'll save the world... for the right price".
So it sounds like it'll follow the anime series in some capacity. Right now, though, we're unsure if its story will follow its animated counterpart to the letter or diverge from it at some point.
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Cowboy Bebop has been developed by André Nemec (Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Jeff Pinkner (Venom), while its scripts have been written by Christopher Yost (Thor: Ragnarok).
It'll also star the likes of Alex Hassell as Vicious, Elena Satine as Julia and Geoff Stults as Detective Chalmers. The series will comprise 10 one-hour episodes, but there's no word on whether Netflix will greenlight further instalments yet.
Analysis: will Cowboy Bebop on Netflix be well received?
It sounds obvious to say, but we don't know if the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop will be successful.
Since the show's announcement in June 2017, fans have been sceptical about a live-action Cowboy Bebop series. Some have argued that, based on other iconic anime productions getting poor to terrible live-action adaptations, Cowboy Bebop should be left well alone. Others, meanwhile, have lamented the fact that the series' cast is far older than how Spike and company are depicted in Hajime Yatate's original show.
Not all Cowboy Bebop fans are hating on the series before it's even arrived though. Some have stated that the first-look images have started to win them round, so there's every chance that the anime's fanbase may be won over by the time that the live-action series debuts on Netflix.
Of course, we'll hope to see a trailer or two before Cowboy Bebop's November 19 launch. There's no word on when a teaser may arrive but, with the show less than three months from release, we're hopeful that one could land online sooner rather than later.
Even if Cowboy Bebop is a success for Netflix (from the view of critics or fans), there's no guarantee that the streamer will sign off on further seasons. Netflix has elected to cancel some of its big new shows, such as The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and The Irregulars in recent years, and incurred the wrath of these fanbases as a result.
The smart money says that Cowboy Bebop could receive a second season – it's a bigger property than some of Netflix's other cancelled shows, after all – but its potential success may not ensure that a second outing is forthcoming. On the other hand, it might not be as successful as Netflix hopes and get a second season anyway, such is the peculiar nature with which the streamer operates.
Will Cowboy Bebop be well received? The jury's out but, based on the fact that some fans are starting to come around to the idea that it may be good, and that general Netflix viewers might take to it, there's every chance that it will be.
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