Netflix One Piece season 2 rumored to start filming in June 2024: Everything to know

Calling all One Piece fans! We have really great news to share. The smash-hit fantasy adventure series has been renewed for a second season! This means we haven’t seen the last of Luffy and his ragtag crew of misfits called the Straw Hat Pirates. Get ready to set sail once more in a One Piece season 2.

One Piece season 1 premiered on Netflix on Aug. 31, 2023, and tons of people tuned in to watch the new series. In just its first four days on the streaming platform (Aug. 28-Sept. 3), the show managed to pull in a whopping 18.5 million views, securing the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s top 10 English-language TV shows list.

This was great news for fans, but still, no one was expecting the show to be renewed this fast. Netflix doesn’t usually renew its new series so soon after they premiere, especially for expensive shows like One Piece. But we’re not complaining, though!

One Piece season 2 latest news

• As reported by What's on Netflix, production on the second season is reportedly starting sometime in June 2024. The news outlet also reported that there are two new showrunners for season 2. More on this below.
• According to Deadline, One Piece season 2 won't be released in 2024 but in 2025.
• In November 2023, the SAG-AFTRA strike came to an end. This means production can start on the new season once the writing process is done.
• We initially reported that all the scripts for season 2 were completed, but this turned out not to be true. We go more in-depth about everything below.
• Jamie Lee Curtis might take on the role of season 2 new character, Doctor Kureha.

One Piece was renewed for a second season in September 2023

On Sept. 14, Netflix announced that the live-action series had been renewed for a second season. This renewal comes only two weeks after the first season’s premiere. In a special video, creator and illustrator of the One Piece manga series Eiichiro Oda shared the great news of the show’s renewal. Check it out below.

Here are some of the impressive feats the show has managed to reach as of this week via the Netflix press release.

• One Piece is the No. 1 title globally on Netflix with 37.8 million views amassed in less than two weeks since its release. The live-action series reached the Top 10 in 93 countries and debuted at No. 1 in 46.
• The first season is Certified Fresh with a 96% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes from 10,000+ ratings, making it among Netflix’s highest audiences scores ever.
• It’s become a social media sensation with more than 4 billion search impressions for #onepiecenetflix on TikTok alone. The show continues to generate buzz and trend globally across social platforms. The cast Instagram followings have soared, adding millions of followers over the last couple of months.

Renewal status: Renewed for a second season

Production is rumored to commence in June 2024

According to What's on Netflix, principal photography on the second season will reportedly begin in mid-June 2024. The news outlet shared where it discovered this information which was through a Production Weekly Issue posted in March 2024. The issue to be exact is Issue 1393. According to the listing, filming will take place once again in South Africa. However, it also notes that filming will take place in Spain and Mexico as well. But keep in mind that these filming locations have not been locked down and confirmed. However, it's pretty much a given that production will take place in South Africa again. It's the Spain and Mexico locations that we're unsure of.

The cameras are rumored to continue rolling for at least seven months on the second season before the episodes move over to the post-production phase. This is a similar production schedule to the first season which took six months and 22 days to film. Honestly, it's the editing process that's going to take a lengthy time because of all the special effects and stuff. That being said, we can pretty much count out an early 2025 release. We shared our release predictions later in this article, so make sure to keep reading.

Our initial report about the filmmaking process for season 2 is below.

Initially, we reported that all the scripts for One Piece season 2 were finished. We had acquired this information from what was said by one of the show’s producers. Back in September 2023, CEO of Tomorrow Studios, Marty Adelstein, told Variety that scripts were ready. However, this turned out not to be true at all. If you weren’t aware, Tomorrow Studios is one of the production companies behind the live-action series.

In an October 2023 interview with Deadline, show co-creator Matt Owens said that some work had been done regarding the scriptwriting process before the strikes started, but no scripts had actually been completed.

"“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.”"

He also mentions that he took a trip to Japan in April 2023 to speak with the manga creator Eiichiro Oda about plans for the second season.

"“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.”"

When it comes to where he and the rest of the writers are in the writing process now, Owens tells Deadline that the writers’ room is back up and running. He says that they’re getting scripts done so that they can move on to “design work, scheduling, pre-production, etc.”

On Oct. 23, 2023, the official One Piece Instagram page shared a picture of Owens and the rest of the season 2 writers back on the job.

When could One Piece season 2 arrive on Netflix?

As mentioned above, the highly anticipated second season will not be coming out in 2024 like we had hoped but instead in 2025. According to Deadline, the reason for the delay was because of the writers and actors strikes, but we already knew the possibility of the new season coming in 2024 was low. I mean, the writers were still hard at work writing the scripts at the end of 2023.

But now that we have a rumored filming start date and production schedule, we have an idea of when the new season could be released in 2025. Our guess is that we're looking at a summer 2025 release at the earliest, but a fall 2025 release is more likely. A fall release would give the new episodes enough time to be edited perfection in post-production. That's our release prediction for now. Once the official release date is announced, we'll be sure to share it right away.

Release prediction: summer or fall of 2025

Netflix One Piece season 1 ending

After Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates defeat Arlong and his pirate crew at Arlong Park, they set sail on the Going Merry to the Grand Line in search of the One Piece. Luffy now has the highest bounty in the East Blue ($30,000,000 berry) putting him and his crew in great danger.

The last scene of the first season shows a mysterious man burning Luffy’s wanted poster. If you read the manga series or watched the anime, you’d know who this character is. It’s none other than Smoker, a powerful Marine captain. It looks like Luffy and his crew will be meeting Smoker very soon. This can’t be good…

Which parts of the manga could One Piece season 2 cover?

Netflix nor the creative team behind One Piece have revealed what the second season will be about. However, our guess is that it’ll cover the Loguetown Arc (the sixth and last story of the East Blue Saga) and the Arabasta Saga, the second saga of the manga. Once we know for sure what One Piece season 2 will be about, and which parts of the manga it’ll cover, we’ll be sure to let you know right away.

Owens tells Deadline that the “challenge of leadership” is a really big theme for the second season.

Who could be in the second season?

The official season 2 cast list has not been revealed. However, we have an idea of who could return. Since the show revolves around Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, we’ll most likely see the return of the actors portraying those characters. And if the second season does cover the Loguetown Arc, we can expect to see the return of season 1 antagonists Buggy the Clown and Alvida as well.

The show’s co-creator Matt Owens pretty much confirmed in an interview with Deadline that Smoker will be in the upcoming second season. He said, “That character in the end [Smoker] is a very important character moving into our next season.” He continues on and says, “And we’re going to see this very powerful, very driven marine as a major antagonist moving forward in the story.”

Lastly, we can expect to see new characters like Doctor Kureha and Tony Tony Chopper. In the manga and anime, Doctor Kureha is an elderly doctor who works on Drum Island. Owens told Deadline that Doctor Kureha is a “character who is coming up in our story.” When it comes to Tony Tony Chopper, he eventually joins the Straw Hat Pirates and becomes the doctor of the crew in the manga and anime.

Here’s who we believe could return in One Piece season 2:

• Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy
• Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro
• Emily Rudd as Nami
• Jacob Romero as Usopp
• Taz Skylar as Sanji
• Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida
• Jeff Ward as Buggy the Clown
• Vincent Regan as Vice Admiral Garp
• Morgan Davies as Koby
• Aidan Scott as Helmeppo
• Steven Ward as Dracule Mihawk
• Peter Gadiot as Shanks
• Stevel Marc as Yasopp
• Smoker – The actor has not been cast yet, according to Owens.

Also, make sure to check out our article on the characters who probably won’t be back in One Piece season 2.

Steven Maeda, who helped develop the live-action series and showrun the first season, is believed to have given up his showrunning duties for the upcoming second season. However, he will remain as an executive producer on season 2. Matt Owens, who co-developed and ran the first season with Maeda, is set to return as showrunner of the second season. He'll also be executive producing again for season 2. Joining him with showrunning duties this season is Joe Tracz. Tracz is also signed on as an executive producer for season 2. His most recent work was on the hit Disney+ fantasy series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, where he wrote two episodes.

How many episodes could there be?

An official episode count has not been revealed yet. But our guess is that we’re looking at another eight episodes for the second season. Netflix shows are typically given the same amount of episodes for each season. Sometimes the episode count could increase or decrease, but that doesn’t usually happen. We’ll share the official episode count once Netflix reveals it.

Jamie Lee Curtis could be playing Doctor Kureha in One Piece season 2

After the show’s renewal, fans began to dream cast who they want to see play the new characters in the upcoming second season. Their main pick for the Doctor Kureha character was Academy Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Now, it looks like Curtis is in agreeance.

On Sept. 22, Jamie Lee Curtis expressed her support in taking on the role of Doctor Kureha in the live-action series through an Instagram post. The caption to the post reads, “ONCE the STRIKE against the greed of the AMTPT is SETTLED with a FAIR CONTRACT, I will lobby along with the growing fan frenzy to become Doctor Kureha in @onepiecenetflix.”

Well, it looks like fans and Curtis’s wish might be coming true because the show’s showrunner Matt Owens just gave his approval. He wrote in the comment section of Curtis’s post, “Mommy dearest, that’s why we sent you that figure! No need to lobby. Once we get what we deserve and get back to work let’s talk!”

Owens tells Deadline that there haven’t been any “real conversations” but that he’s ready to sit down and talk with Curtis about casting her for the role.

Fingers crossed, everything goes well and we have our new Doctor Kureha.

One Piece’s potential future on Netflix

One Piece executive producers Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements spoke with Deadline in September 2023 and said that they have “hopes for 12 seasons.”

Here’s what Clements said about the show’s potential future:

"“We’re over 1,080 chapters at this point in the manga.. We have plans with Matt Owens for how we would break multiple seasons, and I think even if we did six seasons, we would probably only use up half of the chapters of the manga. It really could go on and on and on.”"

Owens told Deadline in his October 2023 interview that he’s in agreeance with Adelstein and Clements about the show going past two seasons.

"“I do. I want to go as long as we can. 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.”"

Stay tuned to Netflix Life for more news and coverage on One Piece season 2!