After the strike, One Piece writers are “back up and running” on season 2

With One Piece, Netflix did the impossible: make a live-action adaptation of a beloved anime series that people actually enjoyed. And One Piece was harder to pull off than most. Eiichiro Oda’s manga about a crew of upstart pirates is tremendously long and extremely out there in terms of concepts, locations and characters. One Piece is an anime with a capital ‘A,’ something many would consider too outlandish to recreate in live-action. But co-showrunner Matt Owens and his team managed to do it.

Speaking to Deadline, Owens admitted that he was surprised by the magnitude of the show’s success. “[T]here was a big hill for us to climb with how beloved One Piece is, with how much mistrust there is in anime adaptations. I didn’t sleep for two days before release because I didn’t not know what to expect with this labor of love that has been such a big part of my life,” he said.

"I’m so grateful that people see what we’ve been trying to do, that they appreciate it. I love hearing people say, my mom’s not into anime but I got her to watch this and she loves the show. That’s the success. I’m over the moon at the numbers, the data, all of that stuff is great, especially because that’s what’s going to get us more seasons. But it’s people who see the love that went into it, and if people find the ability to share the story of One Piece with others, that to me is the success of this show."

One Piece producers in “open” communication with manga creator Eiichiro Oda

Indeed, Netflix ordered a second season of One Piece not long after the first season bowed in August. That ended a years-long journey for Owens that started when he was in his early 20s’ and trying to break into the film and TV industry in Los Angeles. He wasn’t having much luck, and dug into One Piece as a way to entertain himself.

“I found it at a really dark and low point in my life but I also attribute it with helping me get out of it because One Piece is such a wonderful, positive, inspirational series,” Owens said. “That’s what really galvanized me to, once I heard that someone was trying to make a live-action, to try and get involved because I owe this series a lot. I love this series a lot, and I wanted to be the one to shepherd and protect it and to hopefully make a version that could inspire people the same way that the original inspired me.”

I think you can tell watching the Netflix show that it’s made by people who really like the source material. Owens is also in regular communication with Oda, who suggests and approves things.

Mihawk’s introduction is “one of the most exciting sequences” from One Piece so far

That said, Owens has a bit of a weird experience towards the end of production on season 1, since the Hollywood writers strike kicked off a few months before it dropped on Netflix. Most everything was done by that point, but there were still some sequences that Owens didn’t get to see in their finished form until everyone else watched the show in August.

In particular, he was impressed by the introduction of Mihawk, a pirate warlord who slices a whole ship in half from way across the beach using his sword. It’s anime as hell.

“That was something that we had talked about a lot. It was a scene that I was really excited about, it was a scene that Oda was very excited about, and I think it turned out beautifully,” Owens said. “It’s one of the most exciting sequences of the show’s first season.”

One Piece season 2 will be about “the challenge of leadership”

Now that the writers strike is over, the team is back to work. “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,” Owens said.

It’ll still take a minute to get scripts together, but at least things are moving now. At the end of season 1, we got a glimpse at Captain Smoker, a major antagonist from the manga. That role hasn’t been officially cast yet, but expect more of these heavy-hitting villains to be gunning for the Straw Hat pirates now that their leader Monkey D. Luffy officially has a wanted poster out there. He’s in the game now.

“Season 1 ends with Luffy gaining notoriety. And while it’s something that he wants — he wants to be taken seriously as a pirate in this world — as Nami and Zoro say, this is putting a target on your back,” Owens said. “A lot of people are going to know you and know your face. And so that tag at the end is really reinforcing that idea that there are people who now know of Luffy’s existence, and they’re going to try to put a stop to him.”

"That character in the end is a very important character moving into our next season, and as Garp says to [Luffy] as well, you’re on your own. While Garp may have been the Marine who was testing Luffy, not every Marine is going to give him any leeway because of who his grandfather might be. And so we’re going to see this very powerful, very driven marine as a major antagonist moving forward in the story."

Owens couldn’t give away too much about One Piece season 2, but did hint at one of the major themes: “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,” he said. “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.

One Piece producers “really, really want” Jamie Lee Curtis to be in season 2

A new season will bring new characters, including some who could be played by big-name actors. Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis is apparently a big One Piece fan, and there’s been a lot of talk about her playing the character of Doctor Kureha, something Owens and company are very keen to make happen.

“[W]e tried to start manifesting this dream of ours,” he said. “After she won her Oscar, the writers room sent her a figure of Doctor Kureha with a nice note that said, ‘Congratulations on your statue, here’s another one to put next to it. Hope to speak to you soon.'”

"When she reposted that, it got a lot of fan interest, and I commented on it. We’re trying to manifest it. Yes, as of right now, SAG is still striking so there have not been real conversations. But as soon as there can be, I’m ready. I will take her out to dinner, we’ll talk about it. We’ll do all of it because at this point we’re writing for her — we really, really want her to come and play with us in Season 2."

We’ll also hopefully see the return of Jeff Ward as Buggy the Clown, who made an outsized splash in the first season. “Jeff and I have been talking about Buggy the Clown for years,” Owens said. “Jeff is such a phenomenal actor, he brings such depth, such playfulness, such thought to everything that he does, and he killed it. It was so fun seeing him embody that character. So I knew that he would hit, I knew that people would really like him. To the extent that they have, to the extent that they have been horny for him, that’s new for me, but I’m glad to see him getting the attention that he deserves as an artist.”

One Piece wants the series to run “as long as we can”

So season 2 is on the way. But how much longer after that will One Piece run? There are over 1,000 episodes of the anime, which has been running since 1999. In theory, the Netflix show could go on for a long time.

“I want to go as long as we can,” Owens said. “There’s a lot of source material. And while I do — just because I’m so obsessive not just with One Piece but planning in general — I do have ideas of what future seasons can be, what will be included in them, how we can, on a macro level, structure some things just because of the wealth of material that we have. I will make this show until Netflix says no more.”

That said, there are issues the live-action show has that the anime and manga don’t, like worrying about the cast aging out of their roles. But for now, we’re just excited to get more adventure on the high seas.

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