Back in 2008, a live-action Cowboy Bebop film was in the works. News of Keanu Reeves playing Spike Spiegel soon proliferated, capturing the interest of anime fans. However, it never came to fruition.
Thankfully, the actor has another project that might please anime fans. BRZKR (pronounced Berserker), a comic book series co-created and co-written by Keanu Reeves, has announced multiple adaptations, including a Netflix live-action and an anime series by Production I.G.
The BRZRKR Netflix live-action film is currently in the works
During the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, screenwriter Mattson Tomlin confirmed that the live-action adaptation of BRZRKR is in the works. At the time, Tomlin had announced that a draft had already been completed for the live-action series. He also elaborated that working with Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt has been a blast. Tomlin is also the showrunner for the BRZRKR anime series.
The new draft is indeed a good sign for the upcoming film, but since then, there have been no updates regarding it. The film is a blood-soaked action project, similar to Reeves’ experience with flashy displays of violence in his filmography. With the BRZRKR comics acting as the source material, the film will focus on the protagonist, B, who is a half-mortal and half-god warrior. This immortal warrior’s battles, which span around 80,000 years as well as his current work as an agent for the US government, would be explored.
BRZRKR will also receive an anime adaptation that is set to air after the movie, and will further expand on the same universe. Reeves will play the lead character in both the film and the anime. Production I.G, the studio behind the BRZRKR anime, has previously worked on action anime like Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, giving it an edge in the field.
Why was Keanu Reeves absent from the Cowboy Bebop live-action?
After the announcement of the live-action movie adaptation of the cult-classic anime, Cowboy Bebop, anime fans could barely rein in their joy. Of course, the excitement escalated even more when it was found out that Keanu Reeves would be playing Spike Spiegel, the protagonist. Except, the project was ultimately scrapped.
The film was being developed by Stoff, Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop anime director), and other staff members from the original anime, along with Studio Sunrise. However, in 2013, Reeves spelled out the fact that the movie did not look like it would happen with him in it. Eventually, the project never made it to the screens as it never gained momentum.
Instead, fans received a disappointing live-action series adaptation of Cowboy Bebop from Netflix, which too, had a similar fate. After only one season, the show received so many mixed to negative reviews from fans and critics alike, that it never got renewed for a sequel. Despite being left on a cliffhanger, Netflix has no further plans of developing it.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
