The live-action Cowboy Bebop reboot is down after its cancelation at Netflix, but don't count out the new series just yet. Recently premiering on Netflix after a lengthy production, Cowboy Bebop has already been axed at Netflix, becoming the latest series to be axed prematurely at the streamer. There were a lot of fans who were enjoying the show, so the news was very unfortunate for many.
Refusing to give up on Cowboy Bebop just yet, tens of thousands of fans are adding their name to a new petition at Change.org to save the series. While this in no way guarantees that Netflix or another streamer will pick the show back up, it certainly doesn't hurt to show how much fan interest there is in having the series continue. The new petition is already fast approaching its goal with more than 73,000 signatures acquired as of this writing. Expect those numbers to keep rising as the news of the petition spreads.
"For those people who want a second (or more) of the live action cowboy bebop. It wasn't a direct copy of the anime but the world they put together was amazing and deserve a second season," writes the petition's creator, Ryan Proffer.
Cowboy Bebop obviously has a lot of fans, but perhaps there just aren't enough of them for Netflix to continue on with the investment. Reportedly, the show started off very strong, pulling in 74 million viewing hours across its ten episodes after three weeks. This was followed by a staggering 59% drop-off in viewership, a number believed to be a big factor in Netflix axing the show entirely. Mixed reviews coupled with a high budget certainly didn't help matters, and it seems that Netflix decided to cut their losses rather than rolling the dice again with season 2.
"What a cool opportunity right?! I got to play Jet Black! I'll never not be him..so to speak," said star Mustafa Shakir in an open letter to fans after the news was broken. "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 sh*t 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."
We can only imagine what season 2 would be like. Writer Naomi Markman also teased of what was to come, "Not to rub it in your faces, but as the individual who has read the Cowboy Bebop s2 scripts more than anyone else in the world - **** you're missing out."
The first and only season of Cowboy Bebop is currently streaming on Netflix. Let's not bet the farm on the series getting saved, but it certainly doesn't hurt to add your name to the petition if you're a fan wanting to see more.