Tag: One Piece

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    The wait is finally over, as Netflix has celebrated the production start of One Piece‘s second season with a video. They continue to understand that the selling point of this production is the cast and their dynamic, so we get a chance to see the Straw Hats unite once again to kick off their return to South Africa truly. They aren’t revealing any major details but still give fans that heartfelt return of the main cast.

    That isn’t all though, as we do continue to get some more casting announcements. It looks like we have some familiar faces returning as they’ve confirmed that other returning actors are Ilia Isorelys Paulino’s Alvida, Michael Dorman as Gold Roger, and Jeff Ward as Buggy. It makes sense given Buggy and Alvida were set up at the end of last season, but Roger’s return could lead to quite some speculation on where and how we’ll see him in the series. It would be neat to see a recurring trend for each season to open with the iconic pirate king.

    Of course, there are also some other major casting additions we’re a little late on. We finally know that Callum Kerr will play Smoker in the next season, who’ll be joined by Julia Rewald as Tashigi. Ty Keogh is playing Dalton who’ll face off against the always hilarious Wapol, played by Rob Colletti. Surprisingly, still no announcement for major players like Chopper, Nico Robin, Bon Clay, Sir Crocodile, or Mr. 1. We’ll have to see if they are keeping some news in their back pocket once production nears its end or if the series closes on its release.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • Giant Additions to ‘One Piece’ Season 2’s Cast

    Giant Additions to ‘One Piece’ Season 2’s Cast

    The week of One Piece continues, as it seems we can expect a lot more. As theorized yesterday, we speculated that there were quite a few hints that we’ll see more castings throughout the week. After finally uncovering some of the members of Baroque Works, mostly the characters we see early on in the journey, we already have our next revelations for what we can expect from the series.

    The latest update for Netflix’s hit series comes with two large additions and a rather important one. Clive Russell will play Crocus, a friendly man who welcomes the Straw Hats into their journey in the second season. He is joined by Dorry and Brogy actors, Werner Coetser and Brendan Murray. Their addition confirms that we’ll be visiting Little Garden.

    We don’t know how exactly they’ll adapt the iconic Alabasta arc, but if they have more casting announcements planned throughout the week, we may get a good idea what to expect. If they go throughout the whole week, we may expect the biggest castings for the franchise by the end. Holding out hope for some tease of Chopper, especially as there are still theories if he’ll be CG or a puppet but a voice actor would definitely be great to see.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Finds its Baroque Works

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Finds its Baroque Works

    It’s been a long wait but since One Piece premiered last year in August, the second season is finally getting ready to enter production. With a WGA strike prolonging the wait, it seems our wait won’t be that long (hopefully) to see how they adapt one of the series’ most iconic arcs, Baroque Works or the Alabasta arc. It’s especially exciting after teasing the organization in the first season with Zoro’s introduction. We still only knew about one member of the Baroque Works but our wait has come to an end.

    One Piece has yet to showcase the big guns of the organization, but we got some of its important early episode members. there were rumors that production was set to start at the end of June. So, perhaps they are revealing some of the cast that are heading to production that is returning to South Africa.

    We get our first look at who is playing Miss Valentine (Jazzara Jaslyn), Mr. 5(Camrus Johnson), Mr. 9 (Daniel Lasker) and Mr. 3 (David Dastmalchian). Lasker played int he South African-filmed series Raised by Wolves. Johnson appeared in CW’s Batwoman while Jazzara is known for her work on Warrior. The big addition is Dastmalchian who just recently led the film Late Night With the Devil but also had roles in The Suicide Squad, Oppenheimer, the Ant-Man franchise, and more. He’s also been quite vocal about wanting to join this franchise and has a rather perfect role.

    They’ll join our returning straw hats in Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar. Some major castings are still open for the next season such as Vivi, Nico Robin, Bon Clay, Crocodile, and whoever will be voicing Chopper, who is confirmed to appear by manga series creator Eiichiro Oda. Perhaps we’ll get a bit more throughout the week as production gets going on the long-awaited second season.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Eyeing 2025 Release

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Eyeing 2025 Release

    We’ve been long waiting for an update on when the second season of One Piece will finally start production. The production has recently announced that Joe Trazc of Percy Jackson and A Series of Unfortunate Events fame has worked as an additional co-showrunner on the series. They’ve been working on the scripts for some time and are now seemingly getting ready for filming in the coming months.

    What’s on Netflix shared that production is eyeing a start in June as hinted at by Production Weekly. They will be filming in South Africa, but we might see production expand in Spain and Mexico as well. The plan seems to be to film for around six to seven months by wrapping up by the end of January of next year. That would be around the same length as the first season.

    Deadline has confirmed the June production start but also added a rather interesting addition. Season 2 seems to be eyeing a 2025 release. While the first season took quite a bit of time from its production end in August 2022 to the release a year later, they have figured out some of the trickier effects like Luffy’s stretching powers.

    Not just that, they may already have used the prep time between seasons to get some elements together. However, it is tough to say if they will manage another August release. The VFX will be the biggest challenge given they are about to introduce a character like Chopper, though they may even go down a puppet route.

    Source: What’s on Netflix, Deadline

  • CONFIRMED: ‘Percy Jackson’s Joe Tracz Joins ‘One Piece’ Season 2

    CONFIRMED: ‘Percy Jackson’s Joe Tracz Joins ‘One Piece’ Season 2

    The recent WGA listing revealed that One Piece’s second season may be switching things up. Now, the official statement has come that Joe Tracz, the co-executive producer of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is officially joining the manga adaptation as executive producer, writer, and co-showrunner. He’s joining Matt Owens who returns while Steve Maeda is going to only act as an executive producer on the project. Currently, the second season is eyeing a production start in June.

    Tracz has given an official statement on joining production and his excitement to bring Eiichiro Oda’s iconic series to Netflix.

    I’ve been lucky to work on big adaptations of several beloved series, and they don’t come bigger or more beloved than ‘One Piece. I’m a huge fan of Oda-san’s incredible imagination and I was blown away by what the live-action team created in Season One. So it’s a dream and a joy to come aboard the Going Merry as it enters the Grand Line for an even more giant Season Two.

    Jack Tracz

    Matt Owens also shared his excitement for his new “co-captain” to continue spearheading this iconic adaptation:

    Joe has brought a wealth of enthusiasm and experience into our second season that will help take ‘One Piece’ to new heights. We’re incredibly lucky to have him as a co-captain of this ship. The best crew on the seas grows larger!”

    Matt Owens

    The cast will once again see Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, who is set to become the king of the pirates. His crew consisting of Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar will grow in the next season with the confirmed addition of Chopper, but we still don’t know who will be playing the adorable reindeer. So far, we are still anticipating any announcements for the cast that’ll expand the show as it enters the Grand Line.

    Source: Variety

  • Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Adds New Showrunner

    Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Adds New Showrunner

    Here’s a surprise, it looks like Matt Owens has a new co-showrunner going into the second season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. After a strong showing in its first season and critical acclaim, there’s been quite a bit of silence on the project since they are preparing to start production on the next season. Rumors are hinting at a June production start, but we still have no updates on who might be joining the cast.

    As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan, they noticed that the Writing Guild of America site has updated the page for the second season which now includes Joseph E. Tracz as showrunner alongside Matt Owens, who has been part of its creation. What stands out is that Steven Maeda is no longer involved with the project after having been the showrunner in the first season. He’s also an Executive Producer on the series moving forward.

    Tracz has worked on a variety of series in the past. He was the showrunner of the Netflix romance Dash & Lily. He’s also worked on series like Lights Out, the recent Disney+ adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians as well as A Series of Unfortunate Events, one of the first major adaptations for Netflix. For the latter, he also was involved with the series finale

    Source: WGA

  • Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Series May Be Preparing for Season 2

    Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Series May Be Preparing for Season 2

    Shortly after the writer’s strike came to an end, the writing staff for the second season of Netflix’s live-action One Piece series unveiled its writer’s team. There were hints that they may have started working on some of the episodes already ahead of the strike; hints even exist that they may have finished most of the drafts already. Yet, we have no exact timeline on when we could expect the second season to start getting the cameras rolling again.

    A new post from Nami actress Emily Rudd may have given us a hint on when we can expect production to start. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily give us a true timeline but it does seem that we can expect production on the second season to be earlier than initially expected next year. In a now-deleted Instagram story, Rudd shared a gift she received for the holidays with a highlight that it is for the “season 2 prep”.

    This alone doesn’t necessarily make a case that production is going to start up just as soon as the new year comes rolling in, but preparations are a hint that we’re definitely getting closer. Plus, it might be a better hint that some kind of casting news may be underway in the coming weeks to prepare us ahead of production.

    There’s also the hint from Brashaad Mayweather, the actor who played Patty in the first season sharing that he’s already hearing sets being built for next year’s filming. As such, they may already be getting ready to start as soon as they can and will likely require quite a few more out-there sets when compared to the first given the nature of the story that is going to be told and the many more islands they’ll explore.

    We’ll probably have to wait at least until later before we get an update, as we did get some casting announcements ahead of time before production started in January last year. Though, it’s also quite a bit different given that this is the second season of a recurring show that may handle things a bit differently. Still, here’s hoping that this is a sign that updates are just around the corner.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘One Piece’ Overtakes ‘Ahsoka’ as Most In-Demand Series of Q3

    ‘One Piece’ Overtakes ‘Ahsoka’ as Most In-Demand Series of Q3

    Star Wars seems like it could dethrone any franchise even if Disney+ has fewer subscribers than the streaming giant that is Netflix. So, many different metrics can showcase the success of a project in this modern data-based world. It’s getting more and more difficult as people online swing wildly with analytics and data points to showcase just how big a project truly is or not. Still, there’s always something interesting that pops up now and then to tease just how big a new project might be in this streaming age.

    For Netflix, it seems they won the third quarter with their latest live-action anime adaptation; a far cry from where they were when Cowboy Bebop was released last year. The winner in Q3 according to an analysis from The Wrap is One Piece, which even managed to pull in a bigger interest in the US throughout its first 30 days in comparison to Ahsoka, The Boys spinoff Gen V, and the latest The Walking Dead spinoff.

    We know that the series was big enough to get a second season (and hopefully gets the opportunity to grow even more beyond given just how much there is to explore from the original manga series). However, seeing just how big the adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s iconic series has become in the States is a showcase of just how universal the storyline is. Hopefully, they will be able to move forward fast and start filming to avoid losing the audience’s interest due to long waits in between seasons. So, we’ll see how fast the franchise starts moving forward.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Will Explore the “Challenge of Leadership”

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Will Explore the “Challenge of Leadership”

    While it’s been revealed that the scripts for the second season are not ready as initially revealed by One Piece’s producer, they do have some outlines ready. As such, Deadline used the opportunity to at least ask showrunner Matt Owens what the overarching theme might be going into the second season. The first had a strong emphasis on One Piece’s core theme of chasing your dreams but it seems they want to expand on that a bit more.

    Without saying too much, and speaking to any new characters that we might meet, I would say a major theme that we’re working with in Season 2 is the challenge of leadership. From Luffy’s perspective, he’s got his crew now, and they are setting out to the Grand Line. They’re doing the thing, and there are a lot of challenges that come with that responsibility. And that theme ties into some other stories and characters that I won’t give away just yet. But the challenge and leadership is a big theme for us in Season 2.

    Matt Owens

    The Grand Line is a treacherous environment where survival isn’t as simple as one would think going by the run time of the series. So, it’s a perfect opportunity to explore what it means to be a leader, which also ties into some of the strongest moments from the Arabasta arc. The contrast between one major pirate crew that we’ll be introduced to has already been hinted at in the first season.

    Plus, we know that Smoker has a major role and would also have a leadership role for his marine squad. so, there’s a lot of potential to build upon the contrast between the various major players in this theme and it feels like a natural continuation of what we saw with Luffy in the Baratie episodes as well. Here’s hoping the wait won’t bee to long.

    Source: Deadline

  • Live-Action ‘One Piece’s Writers Room Opened for Season 2 Again

    Live-Action ‘One Piece’s Writers Room Opened for Season 2 Again

    The WGA strike has come to an end and as such developments on some projects are moving forward again. The Hollywood strikes aren’t over quite yet as actors are still fighting for a fair deal, but there’s hope that those will be finalized soon. For now, the big movement forward is that the writers room for One Piece has opened according to showrunner Matt Owens.

    The writers room is up and running, yes, getting scripts done so that we can get into design work, scheduling and pre-production, all of that kind of stuff.

    Matt Owens

    While discussing where they currently stand, he also highlights that they won’t start any castings or actor-related developments before the SAG strike has come to an end; such as highlighting the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Kureha as a favorite.

    In the same interview, Owens also highlighted that scripts for the second season aren’t done. Tomorrow Studios producer did reveal that they should already be ready to release the series as soon as possible but with the strike they seemingly only have an outline ready for now.

    We did start our Season 2 writers room for a little bit before the strike. We didn’t get much further than starting to plan out what the season is going to be and got a couple of outlines done. But that’s as far as we got. So there are not actually any scripts for the season that are done. It’s still going to take some time.

    Matt Owens

    Looking at the positives of the current developments, Owens highlights that they can take in all the feedback the series released. They also already had talks with series creator Eiichiro Oda on potentially where they are heading going into the second season.

    And of course, now that the show has come out, there are things to look at and lessons to learn as we move forward. We’ve got some outlines, and we have a really solid plan that we had communication with Oda about. Part of my trip in April was to talk to him about some of the early ideas that we had, talking to him about things that I want to include to just make sure that our ideas are in line with what he thinks.

    Matt Owens

    So, one thing is for sure: development has started in the second season. It’s hard to say if they will manage to start production next year but depending on how far they come in the next few months, we will hopefully get a clear case of One Piece’s second season will be released in 2025 or 2026.

    Source: Deadline