The cast and crew of Cowboy Bebop knew that the original anime had a certain mood that made it special, and they went all in when it came to capturing that spirit for the Netflix live-action version.
Daniela Pineda, who plays Faye Valentine in the new series, talked about the atmosphere behind the scenes in an interview with Deadline. The first thing she mentioned was music, which is appropriate for a show with such a distinctive and beloved soundtrack. "[Director] Alex Garcia Lopez always played music and always played jazz and always played bebop." She noted the overlap between the genres, saying, "I think sometimes people forget that bebop is a type of jazz music, a particular era of jazz music, and so, that was always present."
Music wasn't the only way that the team connected with the source material. "The facility where we trained in was covered from floor to ceiling in Bebop pictures and Bebop merch," Pineda said. "I feel like if there was a boom in Bebop purchasing of merch in 2019 and 2020, it was probably because we bought it all."
Fans of the Cowboy Bebop anime have noticed all kinds of references and nods to the original series woven into the adaptation, and Pineda describes the circumstances that honed everyone's expertise: "We were just sort of in a really lovely bubble of celebrating the anime wherever we could, and if there was a TV in a room, it always had Bebop on. I mean, I can’t stress enough how we always just had that with us."
The original Cowboy Bebop series, released in 1998, received critical acclaim for its quality animation, lively soundtrack, and blend of genres such as western and noir into its sci-fi setting. It has since become one of the most iconic and high-regarded anime series of all time.
Set in a future in which humanity has abandoned the Earth and now lives on colonies across the solar system, Netflix's Cowboy Bebop follows its anime counterpart by focusing on a team of skilled but frequently unlucky bounty hunters -- Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and the just-introduced Radical Edward -- who cross paths with a wide variety of dangerous and colorful personalities.
All 10 episodes of Cowboy Bebop Season 1 are now streaming on Netflix. The 26 episodes of the anime series are also currently available to stream on Netflix and Funimation.
Source: Deadline
