Netflix is taking a foray into creating live-action anime series with shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and One Piece soon to be released on the service, but their most recent release in this niche has sadly fallen. The Hollywood Reporter said today that Cowboy Bebop has officially been cancelled after one season.
This move comes not even three weeks after its November 19th release. It also comes after the ten episode run garnered a 46 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and fans closely followed with a 54 percent audience score.
The show follows John Cho’s (Star Trek, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle) and Mustafa Shakir’s (The Deuce, Luke Cage) characters as bounty hunters in the year 2061 as they travel across the solar system chasing down bounties and fighting off the evil Syndicate.
The original anime, that also only premiered for one season in 1998, followed the same premise in a more procedural way rather than in an overarching story. However, the similarities critically between the two are non existent as their Rotten Tomatoes score is still at a staggering 100 percent critical score and a 97 percent audience score.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the high cost to low viewership ratio was ultimately the deciding factor in the show’s cancellation for Netflix.
As previously mentioned, multiple anime revivals are still on the way to Netflix, and some are already on the service like their 2017 adaptation of the anime Death Note. So far live-action anime movies and television shows have failed to draw in large box office numbers. The most recent success in this field was 2019’s Alita: Battle Angel which grossed $85 million domestically.
The most recent news concerning the One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender shows is limited to only a few headlines about their castings as the Avatar teaming most recently found their Uncle Iroh actor. All current reports suggest that both projects are still underway despite Cowboy Bebop’s performance and now cancellation.