The Cowboy Bebop universe is defined by a single catastrophe. On 14 March 2021, an experimental hyperspace gateway called the Astral Gate exploded near the Moon, destroying most of the lunar surface and sending a continuous rain of debris toward Earth. Large sections of the planet became uninhabitable almost overnight. Humanity was forced to evacuate to the other planets and moons of the solar system, scattering across Mars, Venus, Ganymede, Titan, and the asteroid belt in the years that followed. The Earth that remains in 2071 is sparsely populated, its surface scarred, its cities operating under the constant threat of falling rock.
Fifty years after the accident, the solar system that humanity has built in exile is a place of sharp contrasts. Terraformed Mars hosts thriving cities with functioning economies and organised crime syndicates to match. The asteroid belt is home to mining operations and frontier settlements where law enforcement is thin and bounty hunters fill the gap. The Inter Solar System Police maintains order where it can, but the distances involved and the resources available mean that a great deal of the solar system operates outside effective authority. Into this space, the bounty hunter profession exists as a formally recognised supplement to policing, with wanted criminals carrying bounties payable in Woolong to whoever brings them in.
The 1998 anime series follows the crew of the Bebop, a small spacecraft operated by bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, across the events of 2071. They are joined over the course of the series by Faye Valentine, a woman with no memory of her past who was awakened from cryogenic sleep three years earlier, the hacker child Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, and a genetically enhanced Welsh Corgi named Ein. Each member of the crew carries a history that the series gradually uncovers, and the final arc brings those histories into direct collision.
An Astral Gate explodes near the Moon, destroying most of the lunar surface and sending debris raining onto Earth. The disaster makes large portions of the planet uninhabitable and forces the evacuation of humanity to the rest of the solar system. This date has already passed in our own calendar.
Open record →In the aftermath of the Astral Gate accident, mass evacuation of Earth's surviving population begins. The dispersal of humanity across the solar system establishes the frontier conditions that define the world of the series fifty years later.
Open record →The Inter Solar System Police is established to provide law enforcement across the colonised planets and asteroid settlements. The scale of the solar system relative to its available resources means the ISSP operates with significant gaps in its coverage, which the bounty hunter system is later created to address.
Open record →The ISSP formally establishes a bounty system, offering financial rewards for the capture of wanted criminals across the solar system. The system creates the profession that Spike and Jet practice in 2071, operating at the edge of legality and profitability in roughly equal measure.
Open record →The Red Dragon crime syndicate establishes itself as the dominant criminal organisation across the solar system's underworld. Its internal politics, particularly the rivalry between its senior figures, will shape the final arc of the series directly.
Open record →Spike Spiegel, a senior operative of the Red Dragon syndicate, leaves the organisation under circumstances that result in him being presumed dead. The decision severs him from his past but does not resolve the relationships that made leaving necessary.
Open record →Faye Valentine is revived from a cryogenic suspension that has lasted several decades. She awakens with no memory of her life before the suspension, significant medical debt accrued during her treatment, and no resources to address either problem.
Open record →Jet Black, a former ISSP detective, leaves the force under circumstances he describes only partially and reluctantly. He purchases the Bebop and begins working as a bounty hunter, eventually taking on Spike as a partner.
Open record →Spike Spiegel joins Jet Black aboard the Bebop, establishing the partnership that forms the core of the series. The two men operate as bounty hunters across the solar system, taking cases for the Woolong rewards and rarely covering their expenses.
Open record →The 26-episode series takes place across 2071, following the Bebop crew through bounty hunting operations on Mars, Venus, Ganymede and various asteroid settlements. The episodic adventures gradually give way to a concluding arc as the pasts of the crew members catch up with them.
Open record →The film is set on Halloween 2071 on Mars, where the Bebop crew investigate a bioterrorism threat. The movie takes place during the series timeline rather than after it, representing a self-contained story from the middle period of the crew's time together.
Open record →The 2021 Netflix live-action adaptation reimagines the Bebop crew's adventures in the same 2071 setting as the original anime. It covers similar story territory to the early and middle portions of the original series, with some significant differences in how individual storylines are handled.
Open record →The conflict between Spike Spiegel and Vicious, deferred across the entire series, reaches its conclusion at the Red Dragon syndicate's headquarters. The outcome of the confrontation closes the story that began when Spike left the syndicate three years earlier.
Open record →Q: What year is Cowboy Bebop set in?
Cowboy Bebop is primarily set in 2071, fifty years after the Astral Gate accident of 14 March 2021. The series follows the Bebop crew across Mars, Venus, Ganymede and the asteroid belt throughout 2071. The film is set on 31 October 2071 on Mars.
Q: What is the Cowboy Bebop timeline in order?
Astral Gate accident, Moon shattered (14 March 2021) → mass evacuation of Earth (2022) → ISSP founded (approx. 2030) → bounty hunter system established (approx. 2040) → Red Dragon syndicate consolidates power (approx. 2055) → Spike leaves the Red Dragon (2068) → Faye awakened from cryosleep (2068) → Jet leaves the ISSP (2069) → Spike joins the Bebop (2070) → series events across the solar system (2071) → film events on Mars, Halloween 2071 → final confrontation between Spike and Vicious (December 2071).
Q: What caused the Astral Gate accident in Cowboy Bebop?
The Astral Gate accident occurred on 14 March 2021 when a hyperspace gateway exploded near the Moon, destroying most of the lunar surface and sending debris raining onto Earth. The disaster is the defining event of the Cowboy Bebop universe, directly responsible for the dispersal of humanity across the solar system and the frontier conditions the series depicts fifty years later.