The original Cowboy Bebop voice actors are returning for the Japanese dub of the live-action series, which premieres on Netflix in November, just weeks after the anime joins the streamer.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Netflix has tapped the original voice cast of the beloved anime to reprise their roles for the Japanese language track of the live-action version of the show, with multiple members of the cast already confirmed, including Koichi Yamadera as the voice of Spike Spiegel, who will be portrayed on-screen by John Cho in the series.
Taiten Kusunoki will replace the late Unshō Ishizuka as the voice of Jet Black on the Japanese language dub alongside returning anime cast members Megumi Hayashibara as Faye, Norio Wakamoto as Vicious, Gara Takashima as Julia, Ken'yû Horiuchi as Gren, and Takaya Hashi as the Teddy Bomber together with Tsutomu Taruki and Miki Nagasawa as Punch and Judy.
Hikaru Midorikawa will return to voice Lin, one-half of Vicious' twin enforcers, alongside Romi Park who will step up to voice Shin, Lin's younger brother, who was voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama in the original anime. Masako Isobe is onboard as the new voice of Spike's former mentor Mao, taking the reins from Kazuaki Itō who voiced the character in the 1998 series.
Netflix recently acquired the streaming rights to the original Cowboy Bebop series, with all 26 episodes of the anime being made available on the platform from October 21. The acquisition of the series allows audiences to get acquainted with the characters ahead of the live-action adaptation, which is due out less than a month later on November 19.
The new series is developed by André Nemec, who has past experience in taking animation to live-action, having been credited as one of the writers on the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. He previously discussed the process of adapting the original Cowboy Bebop series, assuring fans that the series will not be "violating the canon in any direction."
The 10-episode first season of Netflix's Cowboy Bebop series will debut on November 19 — and there are a few things we think the show needs to get right. Cowboy Bebop joins several other live-action adaptations in the pipeline, including a new Netflix series based on One Piece, an Akira remake from director Taika Waititi, and a reimagined version of Your Name.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.