Netflix has announced that the original Japanese cast of the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop will be returning to dub the live-action adaptation of the much-beloved series. The live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, starring John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda will see the original voice actors reprising their roles for the Japanese dub of the upcoming series, with a few exceptions.
The late voice actor Unshō Ishizuka, who played Jet Black in the original series, will be replaced by Taiten Kusunoki. Also joining as new cast members are Masako Isobe, who will be taking over for Kazuaki Itō as Spike's former mentor Mao, and Romi Park, who is replacing Nobuyuki Hiyama as one of Vicious' twin enforcers Shin. Confirmed to be returning to the series are Koichi Yamadera as Spike Spiegel, Megumi Hayashibara as Faye Valentine, Norio Wakamoto as syndicate hitman and rival to Spike Vicious, Gara Takashima as Spike's love interest Julia, Tsutomu Taruki, and Miki Nagasawa as TV hosts Punch and Judy, Takaya Hashi as the Teddy Bomber, Hikaru Midorikawa will play Shin's brother Lin, and Kenyu Horiuchi as Rester House sax player and Vicious' old war comrade, Gren.
In addition to the Japanese dub coming to the Netflix adaptation, it was also recently announced that the original 1998 series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe will also be arriving on the streaming service ahead of the new series debut. The story takes place in 2071 and follows a team of bounty hunters aboard the titular ship "Bebop," as they travel across the galaxy doing their best to make some money and escape their troubled pasts.
The Cowboy Bebop adaptation will be arriving on Netflix on November 19 with the original series debuting a little less than a month earlier on October 21. You can read the synopsis for the upcoming series below.
'Cowboy Bebop' is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka 'cowboys,' all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system's most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.