This story contains spoilers for the end ofCowboy Bebopseason 1 on Netflix.
Netflix’sCowboy Bebophas been stirring the fandom pot since well before it even came close to premiering. Fans of the original anime have been particularly vocal about the changes made between the classic series and the live-action remake, and those comments grew even louder in the wake of season 1’s surprise ending. But setting itself apart from its source material could have been exactly whatCowboy Bebopneeded, and John Cho saw an opportunity until Netflix decided to cancel the series.
Among the otherbig changes made toCowboy Bebop, those who watched the 1st season will remember the twist in the last episode that essentially established Elena Satine’s Julia as a potential new antagonist. Once she grabbed the gun and shot her former love Spike/Fearless (Cho) after spending so much time seemingly helpless, audiences knew that things were about to head in a vastly different direction than they expected. Whether viewers were fans of theCowboy Bebopanime or new to the story, it was clear that the live-action series could have gotten very interesting going forward, and Cho himself had some ideas on that front.
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In an interview with Screen Rant, Cho spoke aboutwhere he thoughtCowboy Bebopshould go. “I hope to get weirder and darker,” he said, well before Netflix pulled the plug on the series. “I always hope that for some reason. I also really want Spike to be happy. This season was rough for him. I did feel a lot of sympathy pangs for him. So I hope he has a moment of happiness. I predict that it will be a tough road, again. However, I guess the only thing I could say is really abstract, which is: If this season was verse, chorus, verse, chorus, I’d like to hit the middle eight and do a little something unusual and unexpected.”
Cho makes some good points. While much ofCowboy Bebop’s 1st season was pretty episodic, it still had a rather serious overarching story that bounced back and forth between 2 groups of characters. Cho’s Spike Spiegel just wanted to leave his past behind while working as a bounty hunter with Mustafa Shakir’s Jet Black and Daniella Pineda’s Faye Valentine. But that became harder and harder thanks to his former partner Vicious (Alex Hassell) and the loose ends he left behind with Julia.
A 2nd season that focuses more on developing the characters through weird and dark storylines would have gone a long way in roping audiences in even more. WhileCowboy Bebopseason 1 arguably captured the anime’s magicrather well when it wasn’t doing its own (admittedly still very entertaining) thing, season 2 could have been an opportunity to set itself apart as its own beast. Sure, there would always be that connection to the original, but changing things up may have turnedCowboy Bebopinto the next big runaway series.
Based on the end of season 1, which saw the introduction ofEden Perkins as the incredibly eccentric Radical Ed, it seemed likeCowboy Bebopwas already set to crank the weirdness up to 11 going forward. But that all depended on whether a 2nd season actually got approved, and it appears not enough viewers tuned in to let Netflix know that people absolutely wanted to see some space cowboys again.
