With Netflix’s live-action customization of Cowboy Bebop now streamer, I recently had the opportunity to talk to showrunner Andre Nemec about making the expected series. During the interview, he revealed how they decided on a ten episode first season, how the downtime after John Cho got hurt helped them make a better show, the motivation to expand the roles of Vicious and Julia from the anime, how all department heads were asked to plant Easter eggs, the hardest things to bring to life from the animated series if Spike would leave the ship if Bebopen made delicious noodles and more.
If you’ve never seen Cowboy Bebop, the live-action series adapts the iconic 90s anime of the same name Shinichirō Watanabe. The original show follows a group of space bounty hunters Spike Spiegel (Cho), Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) and Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir) in the year 2071 and their lives aboard the eponymous ship Bebop while navigating life and trying to escape their past. The show is renowned for its unique blend of western, sci-fi and noir sensibilities, as well as its stunning jazz-inspired soundtrack. Although the Netflix live-action series is extremely true to anime, it takes time to assemble the crew and expand the roles as Alex Hassell as Vicious and Elena Satine as Julia.
Cowboy Bepop is written by Christopher Yost, who also acts as a producer. The series is a co-production between the original series creators Sunrise Inc., with executive producer Marty Adelstein‘s company Tomorrow Studios, and the production team over at Midnight Radio.
See what Andre Nemec had to say in the player above, and everything we talked about is listed below.
Andre Nemec
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How did they decide on 10 episodes?
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Did Netflix want to know that he had a 3- or 5-year plan, provided the series is popular?
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How did the downtime after John Cho was injured help them make a better show?
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Did they end up resuming anything after watching the footage in the editing room?
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Where should fans look for Easter eggs?
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How each department head was told to plant Easter eggs.
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What was the motivation for expanding the roles of Vicious and Julia from the anime?
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Would Spike leave the ship if Bebopen made delicious noodles?
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What was the hardest thing to bring to life from the anime?
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