Netflix’s ‘Cowboy Bebop’ made big changes to the original. Its makers explain why

“It’s ‘Cowboy Bebop,’ let’s not f— this up.” That was the guiding mantra for showrunner and executive producer André Nemec and the cast and crew of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the beloved anime series, which hit the streamer Friday. Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine in “Cowboy Bebop.” Part of Faye’s anime backstory involves her being romanced by a con man who fakes his death to saddle her with his insurmountable debts. And we knew “Julia must free herself from her own cage … through her own cunning, through her own wit, through her own smarts, through her own charms.” Julia’s journey is one of the most significant differences between the new “Cowboy Bebop” and the original anime series. André and the writers and all of us spent a lot of time, keeping some of the backstory, but creating a new journey for female characters that we felt was appropriate for our adaptation and appropriate for audiences today.” Faye and Ein in “Cowboy Bebop.” Still, an adaptation can be a tricky endeavor, and Hollywood’s abysmal track record of adapting Japanese animation — see “Ghost in the Shell”, “Death Note”, “Dragonball Evolution”, or even the anime-influenced “The Last Airbender” — has left anime fans understandably wary about any new attempts.