John Cho, Mustafa Shakir and Others Join Netflix’s Live-Action Cowboy Bebop

The long-discussed live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation has finally found its core cast. The show, based on the Japanese animated series from Sunrise Inc. of the same name, is set for a 10-episode run on Netflix.

Cowboy Bebop follows a motley crew of bounty hunters chasing down the solar system’s deadliest outlaws. John Cho (Star Trek, Searching) is starring as Spike Spiegel, the cool cowboy trained in Jeet Kune Do. The stylish, quippy Spiegel hunts down criminals with his ex-cop partner, Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir of Luke Cage and The Deuce fame), who was a straight-laced man of the law until he lost everything he held dear—Jet also happens to be the Captain of the Bebop. Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) will appear as Faye Valentine, the wild-card bounty hunter who suffers from amnesia after being cryogenically frozen. Currently, the role of Radical Ed has not been cast, but the series has found its villain in Alex Hassell (The Red Sea Diving Resort, Suburbicon), who will play Spike’s ex-partner, the deadly hitman Vicious.

The first two episodes are set to be directed by Alex Garcia Lopez (Marvel’s Daredevil and The Punisher, Netflix’s forthcoming The Witcher series). The pilot will be written by another person with some Marvel cred, Christopher Yost (Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok). And in case you’re worried about this reboot straying too far from the original anime (a legitimate concern), the director of the animated series, Shinichiro Watanabe, has signed on as a consultant.

No word yet on when we can expect the live-action series to hit Netflix. Stay tuned, as more casting announcements are in the works.