One And Done: Netflix Drops 'Cowboy Bebop' After First Season

Less than three weeks after its streaming premiere of its first season, the live-action version of the anime classic “Cowboy Bebop” has been canceled by Netflix NFLX.

The Axe Falls: The 10-episode series generated mixed reviews from critics and audiences following its Nov. 19 premiere while its viewership audience dropped off dramatically shortly after it began streaming, according to Hollywood Reporter coverage.

Netflix had high hopes for the series, going so far as to acquire the streaming rights to the original 26-episode anime series that was first broadcast on Japan’s TV Tokyo in 1998 and later shown in the U.S. in September 2001 with an English-dubbed presentation on Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim programming line-up.

Netflix also hired the original Japanese voice actors from the animated series to dub the live-action characters for the Japanese-language version of the new series. Shinichirō Watanabe, who directed the original anime series, was recruited as a consultant for the effort.

A Jinxed Project? As an anime work, “Cowboy Bebop” became a mega-success, spawning two manga series, a video game and a feature-length film. But turning the anime work into a live-action concept has been difficult.

Plans for a live-action film starring Keanu Reeves as the intergalactic bounty hunter Spike Siegel were announced in 2009, but the production never came to fruition. Netflix announced in 2018 it was picking up a 10-episode live-action series based on “Cowboy Bebop” that was in development for a year, hiring John Cho for the Spike Siegel role with Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine.

The Netflix project began filming in New Zealand in the summer of 2019 but was halted in October of that year when Cho injured his leg, which required him to return to the U.S. for surgery. After Cho’s recuperation, New Zealand’s draconian response to the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed production until September 2020, with work being completed last March.

Photo: John Cho in “Cowboy Bebop,” courtesy of Netflix