The producers of Netflix’s live-action “One Piece” series say scripts for a possible second season are already completed with the new run potentially “ready to air” in a year – once production is able to begin again.
Marty Adelstein, CEO of Tomorrow Studios that produces the series in partnership with manga creator Eiichiro Oda and publisher Shueisha, confirmed to Variety that: “We’ve got scripts ready”.
However, they’re going to have to wait until the SAG-AFTRA strike against the AMPTP has been resolved.
Tomorrow Studios president Becky Clements adds that once they’re allowed to get going again, the second season could launch within 12-18 months from that point:
“Realistically, hopefully, a year away, if we move very quickly, and that is a possibility. Somewhere between a year and 18 months, we could be ready for air.”
Matt Owens and Steven Maeda serve as showrunners on the fantastical pirate series which just launched on Netflix and follows the gregarious Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) who grows up aspiring to be the next king of the pirates, despite his inability to swim.
His journey through the East Blue section of the sea begins as he sets out to find the famed ‘One Piece’ treasure. The first season finds him securing his ship, the Going Merry, and a ragtag team of sailors.
No official second season renewal order has been handed out yet, but Adelstein and Clements say all indications are it looks good. Clements says:
“They keep it, as you know, close to the vest until post-launch. 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 adds that he thinks right now they’re looking at “how many episodes they do, do they break them up?” and that there is a “big impetus to keep this going and to come up with a long-term strategy”.
Part of the reason is the series is bringing in a big audience that goes beyond the manga fanbase with the series playing “like a huge $250 million tentpole movie” and drawing family viewing as well.
