‘Cowboy Bebop’ star says studios need to “value” source material after panned Netflix series

Cowboy Bebop star Daniella Pineda has shared her feelings about studios’ approach to popular source material, and her experience on the Netflix TV adaptation.

READ MORE: ‘Cowboy Bebop’ director Shinichiro Watanabe’s new anime ‘Lazarus’ confirms 2025 release date

Pineda starred as Faye Valentine alongside John Cho and Mustafa Shakir in the live-action series version of the much-loved anime, which debuted on Netflix back in 2021. The first season was 10 episodes long and ended on a cliffhanger, but the streaming service cancelled the show just three weeks after its premiere, after it received mixed reviews.

Speaking to The Direct about the show and fans’ reaction to it, Pineda said: “I feel like those animations, they mean so much to people, and they’re so personal, and I think people really connect to when they watched it and the point of their lives.

“And so, I just feel like, and I’ll say this, having been in one, I think that those studios, they need to do a better job at valuing that IP. It’s really special. And people on Bebop, they worked very, very hard, but it’s just a special thing.”

She continued: “And I understand why the fans felt the way that they did, but I also think that there’s a lot of really cool, wonderful things that we did.

“And I also wish that we could have gotten the second season. You know, sometimes you just need one season to get things going, and then you prove yourself.”

As well as receiving negative reactions from fans and critics, Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop was also slammed by Shinichirō Watanabe, director of the original anime series, on its release. He said: “It was clearly not Cowboy Bebop and I realised at that point that if I wasn’t involved, it would not be Cowboy Bebop.”

The series received a two-star review from NME, with James McMahon writing: “Herein lies a nod to the fundamental problem with this hollow rendering of original director Shinichirō Watanabe’s vast, expansive, genre-bending vision. With classic scenes reshot frame by frame, this fleshy adaption of Cowboy Bebop so often feels like dress-up. The relentless narrative that episodic television requires is another problem.

“In Netflix’s update, the space and inertia so core to the anime are jettisoned for a pacy tempo that really doesn’t fit with the story. It turns Cowboy Bebop into just another show.”

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