Filming of Netflix’s live-action version of Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop has begun.
In April, John Cho was announced to star in the real life remake as Spike Spiegel.
Originally released in 1998, Shinichirō Watanabe and Keiko Nobumoto’s 26-episode anime series is praised for its deep plot and stylistic animation.
Set in the year 2071, the series follows the lives of a bounty hunter crew in their spaceship ‘Bebop’. Themes include loneliness and escaping the past.
Cho’s character Spiegel is a former hitman of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate and part of the original crew.
Another key character in the anime series is Ein – a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and “data dog.”
On Netflix’s YouTube channel, a Behind The Scenes clip of the first day’s filming. The clip is shot from the point of view of Ein as he runs up to the cast’s table where Cho, Daniella Pineda, Mustafa Shakir, and Alex Hassell are sitting.
Shakir will play Spike’s partner Jet Black, Pineda will play con artist Faye Valentine and Hassell will play hitman Vicious.
The corgi is then shown drinking out of a special embossed bowl that reads “Ein”.
Netflix will spread the series across 10 episodes with Watanabe as a consultant on the series. Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok screenwriter Christopher Yost will write the first two episodes.
