Netflix's Cowboy Bebop has been cancelled after one season, just one month after it premiered, The Hollywood Reporter revealed.
The ambitious live-action adaption of the popular anime cast John Cho in the lead as Spike Spiegel. When the news broke, Cho shared a Gif to Twitter with the caption “I'm Okay.”
The series was released on the platform on November 19, but struggled to stay in the streaming services' top ten.
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Angie Han, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, previously described the show as having “leaden pacing”, “shoddy-looking sets”, poor graphics and phoney laughter.
Why was Cowboy Bebop axed?
This space western failed to win over audiences and was received with poor reviews and low viewing figures.
Insiders suspect that the poor reception was more lethal given the fact that this show had an incredibly high budget, reportedly similar to Netflix's 2018 series Altered Carbon, which was one of the most expensive productions in TV and web series history.
This could put the budget in the region of $60-70 million, which makes the scathing reviews from critics and audiences sting even more.
While the original anime has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, the adaptation has just 46%.
Reviewers complained that the casting didn't match the vibe of the original characters, while the 10 episode series wasn't gripping enough.
Viewership figures also played a part. Observations seem to indicate that Netflix tends to look at the first 30 days of viewership when deciding on a series' fate.
According to Netflix's Top 10 site, Cowboy Bebop pulled in a worldwide viewing close to 74 million hours since its release on the platform on November 19.
The show reached the top spot in the US upon its release, but very quickly slipped down the list. In just 14 days it had dropped out of the global Top Ten entirely.
While the adaptation was enjoyed by some, it just couldn't shake its comparison to the original. Netflix didn't involve the original creator, leading the anime's creator Shinichirō Watanabe to say in a 2019 interview: "I have no choice but to pray and hope that it will turn out good."
In the original promotional material, Watanabe was listed as a consultant, but he says he received zero communication from the streaming giant.
