Netflix’s live-action adaptation of iconic space opera anime series “Cowboy Bebop” has not had much luck.
First announced in mid-2017, the project took time to come together but finally was a go with John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine and Alex Hassell all cast in the major roles.
However filming had only just begun in October last year when Cho injured his knee badly on the set, forcing the production to be delayed by half a year until he had time to recover. Things were gearing up to resume when the coronavirus pandemic stalled things again.
This week, even with production of the first season still having a long way to go, writer and executive producer Jeff Pinkner has revealed that he has already begun plans for a second season of the show. Speaking with Observer about how the project is going, Pinkner says:
“I think that I’m very excited by our opportunity to take this iconic anime and bring it to life. I think that our actors are spectacular. The world that we’re creating down in New Zealand that we’re excited to get back to as soon as we can is a really fun, dynamic visualization of this insane anime.
I think that because we have these hour-long episodes, we have an opportunity to take the anime and sort of like just deepen and dimensionalize the source material. Really tell stories set in that world in a way that hopefully will not only delight the fans of anime but expose a whole bunch of new people to the world of Cowboy Bebop, the awesome work of Yoko Kanno. It’s a delight. It’s entirely different from Lost in every way but it’s been a joy.”
At present it’s unclear when Netflix can resume production on its various series including this one.
