Netflix Says No to Season Two of “Cowboy Bebop” After Just One Season

Sorry, space cowboys, but you’re not getting a second season.

After much fanfare leading up to its highly-anticipated arrival, “Cowboy Bebop” gets the thumb down for Netflix to continue onto a second season — and it hasn’t even been a month since it premiered on the platform.

As first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, the live-action remake of the popular space Western anime series had a “rough reception” which led to its cancellation. The 10-episode maiden season was poorly rated online, posting only a 56 percent positive audience rating on the streaming site, and only a 46 percent positive score from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. 

A week after its November 19 release, viewership of the show also declined sharply, plummeting by 56 percent after registering almost 74 million viewing hours during its premiere week.

The decision not to renew the series ultimately came by weighing its costs versus its viewership. Despite boasting a sizeable budget as part of its promotion — which, to be fair, translated into some of the most cinematic shots that were three years in the making — “Cowboy Bebop” simply could not make a second season on mixed reviews, hence Netflix pulling the plug.

Based on Shinichirō Watanabe’s cult anime series, “Cowboy Bebop” revolves around a ragtag squad of scrappy space bounty hunters scouring the galaxy for its most valuable criminals. The live adaptation was directed by Andrei Nemec and starred John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Daniella Pineda as the forgetful Faye Valentine, Mustafa Shakir as the ex-cop Jet Black.

Following the report, cast members took to social media to comment on the cancellation. Shakir shared on Instagram his gratitude for the opportunity to play Jet Black, and how proud he was of the production team for pulling through.

Shakir wrote: “What a cool opportunity right?! I got to play Jet Black! I’ll never not be him..so to speak. That’s badass to me. Netflix went balls to wall for us in order to get it done. They really looked out for us when shit hit the fan. But at the end of the day business is business and this was a big ship that needed a lot of fuel. Maybe the “haters” and the critics got us maybe it wasn’t as good as we thought. All I know is we got this done under the craziest conditions and I’m proud of what we did. Thank you for dreaming with us. 

“See you space cowboys.”

While Cho didn’t directly reference the show, his GIF of Tom Selleck saying “I’m okay” was good enough to express his dismay over the non-renewal. Apart from his lead role.

Art Macky Arquilla