News broke late Friday night that Netflix has decided not to renew Cowboy Bebop for a second season, cancelling the live-action anime adaptation just three weeks after its premiere on the streaming service.
Though the show received a mixed reaction from fans and critics alike, this was still a surprising development given the sheer amount of time and effort that went into bringing Bebop to the screen, not to mention the fact that it actually proved to be a decent hit for the streamer despite a significant second week drop-off.
The main cast members have already expressed their disappointment with brief social media posts, but Mustafa Shakir - whose take on Jet Black was considered a major highlight by many fans - has now taken to Instagram to share a more heartfelt message as he bids farewell to the show and his character.
"What a cool opportunity right?!," said the Luke Cage actor. "I got to play Jet Black! I’ll never not be him..so to speak. 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 shit 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."
Writer Naomi Markman also weighed in on Twitter.
Cancelled shows do sometimes get picked up by other networks, but that's highly unlikely to happen in this instance. This looks like the end of the line for our space cowboys.
What did you guys think of Cowboy Bebop? Let us know in the comments, and check out our review here.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.