John Cho Among The Cast Announced For Live-Action ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Series
Netflix is announcing four confirmed cast members for its new live-action reboot of Cowboy Bebop, including John Cho and Mustafa Shakir, according to a report by Variety. Also joining the live-action version of the beloved Japanese anime of the same name are Daniella Pineda and Alex Hassell. Cho is slated to star as the series protagonist, the super-cool Spike Speigel, space bounty hunter extraordinaire who is always quick with a quip and is able to get out of any scrape with panache.
Cho is probably best known for his breakout role in the Harold and Kumar films as well as the Star Trek franchise. He is also slated to appear in an episode of Jordan Peele’s reboot of The Twilight Zone.
Cho as Speigel will travel the solar system chasing down dangerous criminals with his partner Jet Black, the quintessential ex-cop-turned-bounty hunter, jazz aficionado, and captain of the Bebop, who will be played by Shakir. Shakir starred in another Netflix project, a joint production with Marvel of Luke Cage, where he played the character of Bushmaster. He also starred as Big Mike in the HBO series The Deuce, the James Franco project that took on the sleazy world of New York City’s Times Square of the 1970s and 1980s.
Hi amigos and all 300,000 bounty hunters in the star system! Happy to announce that @JohnTheCho, @_mustafashakir_, @Maniella, and Alex Hassell have been cast in the #CowboyBebop Live Action TV Drama.
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) April 4, 2019
Pineda will be playing Faye Valentine, another bounty hunter who suffers from amnesia as a result of having been cryogenically frozen for a number of years. She’s the wild card among the crew of bounty hunters, a constant test of patience for Spike and Jet as she pushes boundaries with stealing, lying, and otherwise causing trouble. Pineda has worked on The Detour, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Inside Amy Schumer.
Hassell, who will also make an appearance in the yet-to-be-released Amazon series The Boys, will play Vicious, a hit man with a name to match his favorite outlook on life. He’s a stone-cold killer and serves as a foil to Spike as his ex-partner and nemesis.
Netflix announced they had inked a deal to pick up Cowboy Bebop back in November of 2018 and has greenlit 10 episodes of the series to start with. They appear to be taking care with the often delicate sensibilities of the hardcore fans, signing on original series director Shinichiro Watanabe to serve as a consultant on the reboot. The streaming giant has also locked down a screenwriter with action cred, Christopher Yost. Yost, who penned among other things Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok, will write the first episode and serve as an executive producer.
