One Piece Season 2 Scripts Ready, Awaiting End of Strikes

Following the exciting start of the show on Netflix, the creators of One Piece mentioned that they have finished writing scripts for a potential Season 2. They hope that the next season can be prepared for airing in about a year, once they can start making it.

Marty Adelstein, the CEO of Tomorrow Studios, the company producing the live-action One Piece in collaboration with manga creator Eiichiro Oda and publisher Shueisha, mentioned, “We have got scripts ready,” during an interview with Variety on Thursday.

While production for a possible second season cannot start until the SAG-AFTRA strike against the AMPTP is resolved, Becky Clements, the president of Tomorrow Studios, has stated that once they receive the green light to resume production, Season 2 could potentially debut as early as the following year.

“Realistically, hopefully, a year away, if we move very quickly, and that is a possibility,” Clements said. “Somewhere between a year and 18 months, we could be ready for air.”

One Piece, co-showrun by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda, is set in a fantastical world where pirates and marines vie for control of the Blue Sea.

The story follows Monkey D. Luffy, who aspires to be the pirate king despite being unable to swim due to consuming the “Gum Gum” Devil Fruit as a child. Luffy’s quest for the fabled one piece treasure leads him to form a crew of sailors, the Straw Hat Pirates, and acquire the ship Going Merry.

Netflix has said that One Piece Season 1 did very well and was number one on its list of popular English-language TV series with 18.5 million views in the first four days. Although there’s no official confirmation of Season 2 yet, the producers, Adelstein and Clements, believe it’s very likely to happen.

“They keep it, as you know, close to the vest until post-launch,” Clements said. “But with Netflix’s support of the title, we expected it to be number one and we sensed their research and algorithms probably saw the possibility for that. But in our subsequent calls post-launch, we have been told that we have exceeded expectations, which is also fantastic.”

Adelstein believes that the key to securing a second season for One Piece, which he describes as playing out like a major $250 million blockbuster movie, is to maintain the impressive viewership numbers it initially achieved. This includes attracting viewers who may not have been familiar with the manga or anime it’s based on before the show’s launch and who wouldn’t have watched it immediately.

Netflix has not provided any comment regarding the status of a renewal for One Piece Season 2.