Set in the year 2071,[1] it focuses on the adventures of a ragtag group of bounty hunters chasing down criminals across the Solar System on the Bebop spaceship.

[2] The series was developed by Christopher Yost, with André Nemec as showrunner, and stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine and Alex Hassell.

The ten-episode series was released on Netflix on November 19, 2021, and was criticized for its writing, special effects, editing and action sequences and its cast.

[15] Vicious storms into a medical compound to release Pierrot LeFou, a genetically enhanced but insane assassin that hates dogs, and hires him to kill Spike in exchange for an unlimited supply of Red Eye.

LeFou hacks into Ein's neural system to send a message to Spike to meet him at Earthland, an abandoned amusement park asteroid.

On June 6, 2017, it was announced that an American live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop was being developed for television by Tomorrow Studios—a partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios, alongside Sunrise Inc., which also produced the original anime[16]—with Christopher Yost as the series writer.

[3] On April 4, 2019, Variety reported that John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda and Alex Hassell were cast in lead roles as Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Vicious in the series.

[24] On November 19, 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Geoff Stults, Tamara Tunie, Mason Alexander Park, Rachel House, Ann Truong and Hoa Xuande have been cast as Chalmers, Ana, Gren, Mao, Shin and Lin.

On September 25, 2021, Jan Uddin and Lydia Peckham, Adrienne Barbeau, Josh Randall, Rodney Cook, and Ira Munn and Lucy Currey were officially cast as Asimov and Katerina Solensan, Maria Murdock, Pierrot Le Fou, Teddy Bomber, and Punch and Judy.

He continued, "I investigated the anime and just thought this was the most unique piece of entertainment I had seen in a long time: the combination of genres, characters, the music."

I hope that viewers will see the atmosphere of the Spike character that I previously portrayed in John Cho's performance, who is skillfully taking on the role in this version.

"[29] The casting of newcomer Eden Perkins as Radical Ed was announced on the day of the series' release to Netflix, though only appears in the final scenes of the tenth episode.

To bring Cowboy Bebop to the reality of cinema, the Netflix team drew inspiration from such films as The Big Sleep (1946), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), Lethal Weapon (1987), and The Crow (1994).

She also explained it would be easier for Pineda to work in this outfit than if she were dressed how Faye was in the anime: "It's definitely aesthetically driven but there's a practical element as well...There's a lot of action.

"[45] In October 2021, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Watanabe had served as a consultant for the series,[29] providing early Cowboy Bebop concept art for reference.

[48] In August 2021, it was revealed that original show creator Hajime Yatate, actually a pseudonym for the collective Sunrise animation staff, was interested in writing episodes.

In an August 2021 interview with Vulture magazine, Cho talked about accepting his role and Kanno's involvement with the live action adaptation: "I made sure that she was locked in before saying yes.

Although Cowboy Bebop was on Netflix's Top 10 with almost 74 million viewing hours worldwide since its debut, viewership dropped by 59 percent the following week from November 29, 2021, to December 5, 2021.

[3] In The Bebop Beat podcast interview, showrunner André Nemec discussed what would have happened during a second season, including the reveal of the Cosmonaut; Ed finding out the true meaning of family; Jet's mechanical arm tripping out (while Jet is tripping out, his arm is unusable and plays the saxophone with one hand); Spike's demons of the Blue Crow massacre being put to bed; Faye finding out who she is; Julia discovering "Heavy Is the Head That Wears the Crown"; Vicious being reborn; and Ein saving the day.

"[83] Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall described the series as "a hangout show as much as it is a thriller, a space opera, and so on", ultimately giving it three-and-a-half stars out of five.

[33] Russell felt that many of the supporting characters' motivations were "glossed over and occasionally undercooked", while "a handful of episodes feel rushed to meet its runtime".

[91] Variety's Caroline Framke opined that the series suffered from "Netflix bloat", where the story is "stretched past [its] limits seemingly for the sake of retaining eyeballs for more minutes at a time.

"[92] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote, "When the show leans more heavily into Spike's serialized plot – Cowboy Bebop loses its sense of fun and bogs down in tired soap operatics.

[33] Russell, meanwhile, noted that "some sets clearly need a more sizeable budget, but the sheer attention to detail by the production designers helps overcome that handicap".

"[84] Conversely, The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han described the show as "a knockoff Firefly, made for a fraction of the budget", with "muddy CG" and "shoddy-looking sets".

[90] Francisco stated, "If there's a high mark the show hits, it's the fact that its all-star main cast was successfully assembled to begin with.

"[99] Shirley Li of The Atlantic wrote, "The trio of protagonists aboard the Bebop have an electric chemistry: The actor John Cho embodies Spike's swagger, Mustafa Shakir captures Jet's stoicism, and Daniella Pineda suffuses Faye with endearing candor.

[102] However, this also prompted a petition called "Save the live action Cowboy Bebop", with author Wesley Chu tweeting a link after comparing the show to Firefly.

[103] The petition gained over 150,000 signatures[104] including Steve Blum, the English voice actor for Spike in the anime, who has been very supportive of the live action and cast.

Titan also published a four-issue comic miniseries based on the show from January 26 to June 22, 2022, with a trade collecting all four issues released on November 15, as Cowboy Bebop: Supernova Swing.