Netflix has gone and made its live-action Cowboy Bebop series must-see viewing. Today the streaming network announced the initial casting on the 10-episode series, headlined by the awesome John Cho as smooth-as-silk bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. Okay, I’m in. Sold.
Joining Cho are Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) as amnesiac con artist Faye Valentine, Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage) as Bebop captain Jet Black, and Alex Hassell as the villainous Vicious. Alex Garcia Lopez will direct the first two episodes with Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg acting as showrunners. Original anime series director Shinichiro Watanabe will act as a consultant.
For those who’ve never seen Cowboy Bebop, it’s a space-Western with influence that can be seen on numerous projects including Joss Whedon’s Firefly. The series follows “the jazz-inspired, genre-bending story of a rag-tag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their pasts, as they hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals” Cho is probably best known for his role as Sulu in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek flicks. He may have started out as the geekier half of the Harold & Kumar stoner duo, but he’s really come into his own with cool, dramatic performances in Columbus, Searching, and more. [THR]
