Anthony Bourdain’s 10-Part DC ‘John Wick’ Series Officially Takes Over HBO Max Streaming

Anthony Bourdain’s most unexpected creation is cooking up trouble on HBO Max. Get Jiro!, a 10-part animated series adapted from the late celebrity chef’s DC Comics graphic novel, ranked No. 9 on FlixPatrol’s worldwide HBO Max television chart for October 9, 2026, earning 101 points from its country-level rankings. It is placed alongside Lanterns, Youth, and Adventure Time: Side Quests.

Set in a dystopian Los Angeles ruled by celebrity chefs, Get Jiro! follows a sushi chef whose strict standards anger powerful culinary rivals. It also reminds us that Bourdain’s imagination went far beyond Kitchen Confidential, No Reservations, and Parts Unknown. Eight years after his death, his darker humor is finding a new audience.

Get Jiro Is John Wick With a Sushi Knife

John Wick: Chapter 2 | Credit: Lionsgate

What happens when John Wick trades his pistol for a sushi knife? Anthony Bourdain’s Get Jiro! comes remarkably close to answering that question. Originally published in 2012 under DC’s Vertigo imprint, the graphic novel was created by Bourdain and Joel Rose, with illustrations by Langdon Foss. Its dystopian Los Angeles is ruled by rival culinary empires, where celebrity chefs possess the influence of crime bosses and food has become society’s most valuable currency.

At the center stands Jiro (voiced by Brian Tee), a taciturn sushi chef whose impeccable knife skills make him as dangerous as he is disciplined. Like Keanu Reeves’ John Wick, Jiro operates according to an uncompromising personal code. Both men are consummate professionals who value precision, despise disrespect, and become targets after refusing to play by the rules of powerful criminal organizations. The resemblance extends beyond their personalities.

John Wick features the High Table, an influential organization governing its criminal underworld. Get Jiro! replaces that hierarchy with competing culinary factions led by Bob (Titus Welliver), an authoritarian French-cuisine kingpin, and Rose (Alison Pill), a militant vegan determined to impose her ideology on the city’s food culture. Rotten Tomatoes confirms the voice cast.

Both stories also turn professional expertise into a lethal spectacle. Wick dispatches enemies with balletic gunplay, while Jiro treats his sushi knives as extensions of his culinary philosophy. The comparison isn’t merely editorial conjecture. In CGMagazine’s review, critic Ridge Harripersad explicitly likened the adaptation to “a John Wick animated series”, highlighting its culinary equivalent of the High Table and similarly ruthless protagonist.

Get Jiro! takes the John Wick formula into the absurd world of celebrity chefs, food snobbery, and culinary elitism. Here, restaurants behave like criminal gangs, and ordering sushi incorrectly could get you killed. I love how ridiculous that sounds. John Wick kills over unfinished business, while Jiro might kill you for ruining dinner.

Anthony Bourdain’s Bloody Satire Wins Over Critics

Credit: Warner Bros. Animation

Get Jiro! premiered on Adult Swim on October 3, 2026, before arriving on HBO Max, bringing Anthony Bourdain’s irreverent creation to television eight years after his death. The 10-episode animated series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios, with Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka serving as creators. Its early reception has been encouraging.

The series currently holds 89% on Rotten Tomatoes from seven critic reviews, although the small sample means the score could change considerably. IGN’s review awarded the show 8/10, praising its savage humor and affection for Bourdain’s original material. CGMagazine went further with 8.5/10, applauding its grotesque culinary action and food animation reminiscent of Studio Ghibli. Not everyone has ordered seconds. Clint Worthington’s RogerEbert review argues that the show’s extravagant premise occasionally disguises a disappointingly conventional crime thriller.

That criticism is fair, since Get Jiro! is funnier when its violence mocks food snobbery rather than relying on gore. Still, FlixPatrol ranked it ninth worldwide on HBO Max on October 9. There’s something amusing about Bourdain’s success here. He spent years criticizing celebrity-chef arrogance, and now his exaggerated version of that world has found its own audience. It celebrates cooking while making fun of the people who take it far too seriously.

Bourdain may be gone, but Get Jiro! keeps his irreverent humor and disdain for culinary snobbery alive. Would you watch a John Wick-style series ruled by sushi chefs, and does it deserve its HBO Max popularity? Tell us below, and follow FandomWire for more entertainment coverage.