Various outlets are reporting that Netflix has canceled its live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation after just one season.
The news comes less than three weeks after its November 19 debut. The 10-episode series garnered mixed reception from fans and critics alike, with a 46 percent positive critic score and 54 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The series has amassed over 73 million hours viewed since it was first made available, according to Netflix’s Top 10 site. Cowboy Bebop has been among the streaming platform’s most-watched television series since its release, coming in as the sixth-ranked show in its first week. It then skyrocketed to second place before plummeting to ninth place the following week, with its hours viewed more than halved.
The series' main cast is comprised of John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine. Elena Satine and Alex Hassell played the roles of Julia and Vicious, respectively. Eden Perkins played Radical Ed in a short teaser at the end of Episode 10.
Netflix is currently working on several other live-action anime adaptation projects. A live-action series of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga is in production, with the main cast revealed back in November, as was concept art for an unnamed live-action Gundam film project.
A live-action Yu Yu Hakusho series is set to be released in 2023, though not much information has been made available yet. The streaming service previously released a live-action film adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note series in 2017, which also had mixed reviews at the time of its release.
The Cowboy Bebop anime aired from 1998-1999, with a film, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, following it in 2001. The series was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, who would go on to work on Samurai Champloo, Kids on the Slope, and most recently, Carole & Tuesday. Watanabe served as a consultant on the live-action series, with original composer Yoko Kanno also returning.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter