Will There Be A One Piece Season 2?
It looks like Netflix won't be giving "One Piece" the "Cowboy Bebop" treatment. The new live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's manga has just been renewed for a second season, as announced by the author himself. "Two weeks after the launch, I just received some great news. Netflix has decided to renew the show!" Oda shared in a message via "Transponder Snail." He added: "The adventures of Iñaki and the live-action Straw Hats will continue onward!"
The live-action "One Piece" premiered on the streamer in late August and has been met with praise from fans of both the manga and Toei Animation's long-running anime adaptation. With 20 seasons of that series and counting, plus 106 volumes of the manga, there's plenty more source material for the latest iteration of the story to pull from. The series follows a crew of adventurers called the Straw Hat Pirates, led by semi-superpowered Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy). Oda may have also hinted at a possible second-season plotline for the series in his announcement, signing off by noting, "From here on, it seems to me the Straw Hats will need a great doctor...We will see!"
Oda also noted that fans eager for more "One Piece" may need to be patient, as "it'll still take a while to get the scripts ready." Tomorrow Studios CEO Marty Adelstein told Variety last week that scripts for a potential season 2 are actually good to go, but President Becky Clements noted that production will wait for the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike to be resolved before season 2 starts filming. In a best-case scenario, she says that "somewhere between a year and 18 months, we could be ready for air."
The Straw Hat Pirates will ride again
/Film's own Barry Levitt gave the show's first season a positive review, noting that while the show's structure makes it feel repetitive at times, Godoy gives "a terrific, spirited performance" and the first season "lays an impressive foundation" with its "undeniably impressive" worldbuilding. By the streamer's own metrics, "One Piece" was also a major hit for Netflix, earning 37.8 million views in under two weeks and debuting as the number one most-watched title in 46 countries.
"I spent a long time working on ['One Piece'] with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios," Oda said in his statement. "It seems people around the world have been enjoying the show, which makes the hard work from the production team truly worth it." The author, who consulted on the show and serves as an executive producer, also thanks new and old fans alike for tuning in.
Season 1 of "One Piece" ended with Luffy well on his way to building the crew of his dreams, as characters including Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson), Sanji (Taz Skylar), Zoro (Mackenyu), and Nami (Emily Rudd) are all aboard the Straw Hat Pirates crew. The show also ended with a slight cliffhanger, as a potentially villainous character whom anime fans know only as Smoker saw a wanted poster for Luffy and seemed ready to put him and his crew in his crosshairs.
Season 1 of "One Piece" is now on Netflix. Season 2 does not have a release date at this time.