The Julia episode of Cowboy Bebop was a crucial change from the anime, says Showrunner

The original Cowboy bebop Anime was a story about the way the past haunts the present, or to quote ex-Kotaku writer Richard Eisenbeis. Article from 2014, “the epilogue to a story we never see.” As the audience sees glimpses of Spike’s previous life as a member of the Red Dragon Syndicate, his love affair with Vicious’ girlfriend Julia, and his near-fatal exit from the syndicate throughout the series, the full story becomes about who Spike was and what he was Life took such an almost fatal turn, is never seen or explained.

Netflix Cowboy bebop takes a different approach. Of the live-action series’ many deviations from the original series, none is perhaps more dramatic or momentous than episode 9, “Blue Crow Waltz,” which offers a glimpse into Spike’s former life as “Fearless,” a syndicate hit man, and the Events leading up to his alleged death by former partner Vicious (Alex Hassel).

[Ed. note: The rest of this article contains spoilers for the ending of Cowboy Bebop.]

To the Bebop

Showrunner André Nemec was instrumental in unfolding the story within the series’ new continuity. “It was a story we had to tell each other in the writer’s room to really understand the character of Vicious; who he is, what he is and why he is, ”says Nemec to Polygon. “It was important that we only tell this story, that is the foundation on which we are building this whole season. This is the event that sets everything in motion. “

Three years before today’s events of Cowboy bebop, “Blue Crow Waltz” shows what led to the aftermath of Vicious and Fearless – namely a bloody gang war. What Vicious begins, Spike tidies up and Spike’s rendezvous with Julia behind Vicious’ back is the final break. But more than just a tale of a passionate feud between two men, the episode is an origin story for Julia, Spike’s former flame, and a character who was never fully explored in the original anime. “In the original idea of breaking episode 9, I always thought of it as Juliet’s episode,” says Nemec. “I found it important that the character be the architect of their own journey and not a dramatic tool to tell a story between these two guys.

“It was important to me that she was whole and shaped as a person, not just as a victim under the thumb of Vicious – which is a place I knew we wanted at the beginning of this story – but also, to give her the opportunity to shape her way […] The spirit of it definitely came from: I want to know more about Julia. Who is this Helen of Troy? “

For Elena Satine, the challenge and opportunity to portray this development was to distinguish who her character was in relation to other characters and who she was to herself. “I addressed Julia as two different characters, essentially there was the idea of Julia, which is immortalized by Spike and his memories of Julia. But then there is the real Julia, whom we see briefly in the anime walking around with a gun, shooting people. She’s not exactly the same girl as the one he remembers, so this was kind of a starting point for me to get closer to the character. And I went from there and built on that and the slow transformation of Julia from someone else’s dream woman to this woman who in the end has a lot of control over her own fate. ”

Julia stares through a broken cathedral window

Saying Julia in live action Cowboy bebop feels completely different from the character seen in the original anime is an understatement. In truth, Julia wasn’t a great character, but an idea back in the 1995s Cowboy bebop. First seen as the terrified, albeit willing, wife of Vicious, Satine’s portrayal gradually evolves beyond her original appearance, eventually wresting control of the Syndicate away from her husband and blaming Spike in her own rise to power. After shooting Spike and imprisoning Vicious, it’s Julia who wields the most power at the end of season one. “I knew in the beginning that I wanted this to be the birth of a villain,” says Nemec. “I thought we had an amazing opportunity to tell the story of someone who is really locked up, who is finding empowerment, and we look at them and just think like this: Ooh, she’s dangerous, like she’s really dangerous – and I think she’s on the last few frames of season one. “

By not only showing Julia’s background story, but also by describing her bow as a sympathetic, empowered and ruthless antagonist, Cowboy bebop ventures into unprecedented narrative territory that the anime never touched on. Where the Netflix series could lead its story is currently unknown, but if there is anything certain about who Julia is now compared to the character in the anime, it is this: She is more than just someone’s dream girl.