Netflix has shut down production on its upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop series after star John Cho suffered a serious knee injury that will require surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation period.

Because it's still relatively early in the production schedule, Netflix could have recast the role, but the streamer is opting to wait for Cho to recover, and will delay production for 7-9 months with the goal of resuming filming in late spring/early summer next year.

Deadline reports that Cho suffered a freak accident nearly two weeks ago while filming a stunt on the show's New Zealand set. He has already flown back to Los Angeles for surgery, and I think I speak for Collider when I say that we're all wishing him a speedy recovery.

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Image via Fox

“Our thoughts are with John and he has our complete support as he recuperates from this injury,” a Netflix spokesperson told Deadline.

Based on the Japanese anime series from the late '90s, Cowboy Bebop is a space western that tells the genre-bending story of Spike Spiegel (Cho), a witty, stylish and effortlessly cool “cowboy” (i.e. bounty hunter) who hunts down the solar system's most dangerous criminals with the help of his rag-tag colleagues Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Radical Ed.

Netflix ordered 10 episodes of the series, which hails from Marty Adelstein's Tomorrow Studios, Midnight Radio (EPs/showrunners Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg), writer/executive producer Chris Yost, and Sunrise, the studio behind the original series. Executive producers also include Tomorrow's Adelstein and Becky Clements, Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki and Shin Sasaki of Sunrise, and Tetsu Fujimura and Matthew Weinberg. Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the original anime, serves as consultant.

See Cho's latest tweet below, and then check out a behind-the-scenes look at Cowboy Bebop. Say tuned to Collider for more updates on Cho's condition and when the series might resume production.