Netflix's Live-Action 'Cowboy Bebop' Series Has Been Canceled After One Season

The live-action adaptation of the iconic anime, Cowboy Bebop, has been canceled after the first season.

The show was released on Netflix on November 19 and received mixed reviews. The 10-part series was developed by Christopher Yost and starred John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine, Elena Satine as Julia, and Alex Hassell as Vicious. Picking up from the story of the anime, the live-action series also followed bounty hunters in space, chasing down criminals across the Solar System on their spaceship, Bebop. Despite being praised for its casting and staying as true as possible to the anime, the series did not fare as well as expected.

The show was highly anticipated and the anime series director, Shinichirō Watanabe was consulted for it. The series also had a musical score from Yoko Kanno, who made the music for the anime as well. Yet, it was unable to match the expectations set by the anime itself. The show managed to get only a 46 percent positive approval on Rotten Tomatoes and only 54 percent audience approval. But it is believed that Netlfix only renews shows with over 60 percent positive rating. The decision was made by balancing the show’s viewership and cost. In less than a month after it's release, the news about the cancelation has been announced.

Variety had stated: “Netflix’s live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop tries to be so much all at once, and appeal to so many different potential audiences, that it ends up struggling to forge an identity of its own." André Nemec had served as showrunner and along with Midnight Radio's Jeff Pinkner, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg had also served as executive producer. Tomorrow Studios and Sunrise Inc also served as executive producers. 

Co-executive producer of the series, Javier Grillo-Marxuach took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the cancellation of the show. "I truly loved working on this," he wrote. "It came from a real and pure place of respect and affection. I wish we could make what we planned for a second season, but you know what they say, men plan, god laughs. see you space cowboy..." The show had received roughly 74 million viewing hours worldwide since its debut but it quickly declined soon after. 

The original Japanese science fiction neo-noir anime series first came out in 1998. It followed the adventures of the Bebop spaceship set in the year 2071, as they try to make a living by capturing criminals for a bounty.