When Netflix announced the production of the live-action series of Cowboy Bebop, fans said it to become a frame-to-frame copy. However, the Cowboy Bebop showrunner has assured fans that the live-action series won’t be a copy. In fact, the production team will respect the sentiments of purist fans.
André Nemec, the showrunner said that they show well dive deep into the different aspects of the show’s characters and stories. In an interview given to Entertainment Weekly, André Nemec said, “I promise we will never take the original anime away from the purists. It will always exist out there. But I’m very excited about the stories that we’re telling. I believe we’ve done a really nice job of not violating the canon in any direction but merely offering some extra glimpses into the world that was already created.”
He further added that they got to know each character deeper and will portray them on the screen. He said the poetic nature of the anime allowed them to dig deeper histories and go beyond the archetypal portrayal of characters. André Nemec further said that the live-action series will try to answer some of the questions the anime has left the fans with. He calls redoing the anime frame-to-frame a disappointing experience.
During the interview, he said that John Cho’s Spike Speigel will benefit from this approach. They could have chased Spike’s funny one-liners. But this wouldn’t have done justice to the character. He also said that with anime, there is always a limit to animation. You can’t really show the layers of characters and what they are feeling.
The live-action series gives them a chance to show the person underneath those characters. The Cowboy Bebop has mixed reactions. But it is yet to be seen how the final series will turn out.
Netflix’s adaptation arrives on November 19.
