A new image from Netflix's live-action reboot of Cowboy Bebop appears to indicate that three fan-favorite background characters from the classic anime will be returning to take their seats at the table.
The still from the upcoming series, shared by EW, shows John Cho as lead character Spike walking through an outdoor cafe in his trademark blue suit. People are seated at the tables on each side of him, and those on the right edge of the picture bear an uncanny resemblance to Antonio, Carlos and Jobim, a trio whose frequent appearances in the anime were both hilarious and inexplicable.
Although the characters are partially obscured by the angle of the shot, the one with his back to the camera is wearing a red baseball cap and the one across the table from him has a wide-brimmed beige hat. These are the same accessories worn by two of the anime's "Three Old Men," and the third man wears no hat but has the same beard and hair as his anime counterpart.
In the Cowboy Bebop anime, the Three Old Men made sporadic, disconnected appearances in the background, always together and often playing games as they chatted and bickered about details from their histories that they couldn't quite remember. Although they had no affiliation with the show's main characters, their paths crossed constantly, even as the Bebop's team of bounty hunters traveled around the solar system. They occasionally interacted with each other, but throughout the show, nobody ever seemed to recognize each other from previous encounters.
If the three men that Spike is walking past in the new image really are meant to be the Three Old Men, it's likely that some version of the anime's running joke will be carried on in the live-action series. Showrunner André Nemec has stated that his goal is to capture the spirit of the beloved Cowboy Bebop anime without aping its every detail, so this kind of nod would be in keeping with that vision while leaving plenty of room to mix up the formula.
Cowboy Bebop will surely contain plenty of bickering from various characters when the first season of the show begins streaming on Netflix on Nov. 19.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
