The Netflix Red Queen has spoken again, and after her “Off with their heads!” verdict, Cowboy Bebop has become the latest high-profile genre entry to fall. That series premiered not even three weeks ago, and it is already joining the list of cancellations. It premiered at Number 6 in Netflix’s weekly Top 10 with 21.6 million hours viewed and then improved in its second week to Number 2 with nearly 40 million hours viewed. But it slipped in the most recent set of rankings to Number 9 with 15.3 million total viewers. The streamer also pays attention to how many viewers finished the season (though they don’t share those stats), and that could have factored into the cancellation decision. Plus, the show is expensive to produce and went through some behind-the-scenes struggles while in production for its first season, driving up the cost even more. To make matters worse, it has not been well-received by critics or fans, currently only holding a 46% score from critics and a 54% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. So apparently the combination of high productions expenses, lower-than-expected viewership, and poor reception lead Netflix execs to the decision to scrap the show. There is no word at this point on whether the show will be shopped around to other venues. And due to the way that Netflix typically shores up the rights to its originals, it would likely be a minimum of two years before the property could make a move.
Cowboy Bebop takes place in the 22nd century and follows a group of bounty hunters aboard the spaceship Bebop who hunt down criminals throughout the solar system. It stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine, and Alex Hassell and it is based on the classic Anime of the same name.
The Fall 2021 season is already winding down with more cancellations and renewals on the way, and we still have some stragglers from the 2020-21 season waiting for word on their fates. You can see the status of all the currently airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows on our Cancellation Watch Page. And be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
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This is really disappointing. I never watched the entire earlier anime version but I thought this live-action version was a really good show with interesting characters, humor, a good story to tell, and lots of great action.