As if we weren't already excited enough for Netflix's upcoming, highly-anticipated Cowboy Bebop adaption, it looks like the live-action series (which is based on one of the most critically-acclaimed and iconic anime of all time) is also going to be inclusive AF!
Netflix just announced a bunch of new cast members have been added to the show's already stacked lineup, and that one of the series' characters, Gren, is going to be played by nonbinary Hedwig and the Angry Inch star Mason Alexander Park!
Grencia Mars Elijah Guo Eckener ("Gren" for short), who originally appeared in the two-part "Jupiter Jazz" episode of the original anime, is a mysterious veteran and sax player at the Rooster Club jazz house. It's revealed that Gren (who was assigned male at birth) took experimental medication that caused them to grow breasts. Although the language for their identity wasn't widely used at the time when the original series aired in the late '90s, Netflix made the announcement that the character of Gren was being imagined as nonbinary, which is an incredible step forward when it comes to on-screen representation.
"Gren is Ana’s (Tamara Tunie) right-hand person," Gren's character description reads in an official release. "They run the front of the house for Ana’s jazz club. As capable with their wit as a glock, as confident in a dress as a suit, they are a Bowie-esque embodiment of 22nd century handsome and seductive beauty."
"Introducing Cowboy Bebop's Gren @MasonAPark," Netflix's LGBTQ+ social vertical Most tweeted earlier today, sharing a video message of Park (who uses they/them pronouns) announcing their casting news. "Revolutionary as the original anime was, the vocabulary we have today for LGBTQ+ people didn't quite exist when it aired. For the upcoming live-action adaptation, the character is being reimagined as nonbinary with a nonbinary actor."
"Being a nonbinary actor who is given the opportunity to breathe new life into an existing nonbinary character has been the thrill of a lifetime," Park said in their video. "It's remarkably meaningful to me because I didn't grow up with a lot of gender-variant representation in the media. There weren't a lot of other characters that spoke to my experience with gender or my experience with queerness, and representation matters."
Although no premiere date has still been announced, we can't wait to see how wondrous and expansive the live-action Cowboy Bebop series is, especially knowing that LGBTQ+ characters will be featured and spotlighted!
