The season 2 being already written news is a bit suspicious for me considering what we know about how TV shows are produced (especially with the strike going on we had multiple writers explain how that works).
Unless their initial plan was for a 16+ episode season and it was cut in half after that. Or by being written, they only mean an overall layout of the 2nd season.
In any case, it seems unlikely that the writers actually wrote the full scripts of those episodes.
Honestly the pessimism here is insane, everybody desperately trying to find an explanation to the (really, really good) numbers that proves OP will be cancelled.
Sure, it's not guaranteed to last indefinitely, because nothing is, but it's like people want to feel miserable even if bad things don't happen.
I find it funny how quickly the goalposts were moved xD First, everybody assumed the show would completely crash and burn, now it's a disaster if it isn't at No. 1 for several weeks in at least 80-100 countries.
@Gizmo said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
No sure if they’ll skip Whiskey Peak or Laboon’s story. Depends on how the show runners feel about the fight given it’s become more controversial as of late, but I think Luffy vs Zoro is iconic, so dunno if they’ll skip over that aspect. Heroes fighting each other is a staple in this type of work that I dunno if it’s be skipped. Same with Zoro fighting 100 bounty members, it’s a lot of fun. If they do it right, can see it be shortened to one episode with Laboon like they did with the Romance Dawn episode.
If there were skips, I was thinking more Little Garden being skipped or skimmed a lot given it’s less popular and iconic than the other parts of Alabasta.
I hope Chopper’s story would get the proper runtime it deserves, but given it’s not cohesive to the Baroque Works story I could see it just being reimagined/shortened, it’s just such a good story.
Alabasta can be shortened/reimagined but depends on how it’s done. They can cut a lot of the desert trekking and the fights can be shortened, but I would hope Yuba is kept.
Dunno how Smoker will fit in. Honestly I feel like Smoker’s story would just be a retread of Koby/Garp’s storyline in season 1 so dunno if that’ll be reimagined/redone. Part of the reason why their story bugged me.
How controversial are the fights?
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@Gizmo said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I hope Chopper’s story would get the proper runtime it deserves, but given it’s not cohesive to the Baroque Works story I could see it just being reimagined/shortened, it’s just such a good story.
Just introduce Ace on camera a little bit earlier instead of a shadowed cameo, or have Smoker go there, and that adds the cohesion right there, the same way the Garp stuff did..
Or make the fact that Wapol and Vivi have met before a bigger more explicit detail than a late flashback.
Plus the whole "Nami is going to die" thing. Though given that now instead of 100 episodes it's more like... 5.. since "Zoro is going to die" they might have to downplay that a little. ABut Luffy climbing the mountain till his hands bleed while carrying them on his back is just SUCH a great scene.
@Riddler said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I find it funny how quickly the goalposts were moved xD First, everybody assumed the show would completely crash and burn, now it's a disaster if it isn't at No. 1 for several weeks in at least 80-100 countries.
That's not the goal posts being moved. That's the opinion of the show changing.
It wasn't a flaming disaster trainwreck doomed to be a one season show cancelled after a week like Bebop was. Now that they've seen it, and it somehow, miraculously worked, people actually WANT more of this. AND a higher episode count.
So now that the worry of "will the show be any good?" is out of the way, it has now switched to "okay they have a good show on their hands... how stupid is Netflix?"
It's two completely different worries, not one moved goalpost.
Sandman went through the same thing where it got super duper high ratings but it still took them like 3 months to commit to a season 2 because it's also an expensive show that had a comparable price tag per episode.
Sandman had 69.5 million hours viewed in its first 3 days compared to 140 million for One Piece in its first 4 days. Though Sandman massively overperformed in following weeks thanks to good word of mouth, and viewers went up instead of down. We’ll see if One Piece can perform the same because it doesn’t just have to overcome the adaptation stigma with existing fans, it also has to overcome the “based on a manga” stigma from casual audiences.
There is also the Budget Argument.
Which boils down to "even if this is the most viewed thing in human history, the budget is immense therefore it can't be profitable and therefore it shall be cancelled no matter how many views it gets"
@joekido-the-Second said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
@Gizmo said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
No sure if they’ll skip Whiskey Peak or Laboon’s story. Depends on how the show runners feel about the fight given it’s become more controversial as of late, but I think Luffy vs Zoro is iconic, so dunno if they’ll skip over that aspect. Heroes fighting each other is a staple in this type of work that I dunno if it’s be skipped. Same with Zoro fighting 100 bounty members, it’s a lot of fun. If they do it right, can see it be shortened to one episode with Laboon like they did with the Romance Dawn episode.
If there were skips, I was thinking more Little Garden being skipped or skimmed a lot given it’s less popular and iconic than the other parts of Alabasta.
I hope Chopper’s story would get the proper runtime it deserves, but given it’s not cohesive to the Baroque Works story I could see it just being reimagined/shortened, it’s just such a good story.
Alabasta can be shortened/reimagined but depends on how it’s done. They can cut a lot of the desert trekking and the fights can be shortened, but I would hope Yuba is kept.
Dunno how Smoker will fit in. Honestly I feel like Smoker’s story would just be a retread of Koby/Garp’s storyline in season 1 so dunno if that’ll be reimagined/redone. Part of the reason why their story bugged me.
How controversial are the fights?
Seen a fair amount of opinions of “newer viewers” state their opinion that Luffy fighting Zoro and not trusting him is out of character. And honestly from the perspective of how the LA is characterized, i would find it harder to justify, but honestly it’s a fun fight. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously, including the rationale; Luffy’s weakness has always been food. Would be curious how it’d be written in the Live Action if kept, but again, we’ll see.
Some of the pessimism does come from precedent: Netflix is not exactly the place you want to be if you want your show to have longevity, which is part of why the news that Netflix was producing One Piece landed with such a thud when it was announced. They used to I still haven't forgiven them for Santa Clarita Diet.
Here's an article on Netflix's policies that sparks a lot of that distrust: https://deadline.com/2019/03/netflix-tv-series-cancellations-strategy-one-day-at-a-time-1202576297/
However, I think most of the pessimism is misplaced. Netflix launches new series virtually every week and One Piece came a week before one of its rare "long-running" shows' fifth season. One Piece is still a massive success story internationally. Though it could be doing better stateside, it seems like Netflix's strategy for OP is built around worldwide impressions, and it's nailing that assignment in spades.
A few takeaways from the HasanAbi/Matt Owens live stream a few days ago that could give hints about what Matt Owens will focus on in future seasons. They were ranking One Piece arcs (and explicitly not talking about the live action series), but I imagine it's a good way to dive into what he finds important about the series, which could inform decisions he makes about it and where later seasons will place their focus.
For reference:
I'm gonna stop here. This has just started turning into a transcript, lol, and it's a little too early for us to talk about post-Sabaody stuff that likely won't be relevant until a season 5 haha.
Main takeaways here are Nico Robin is his favorite, he's really in tune with character moments and how their interactions and battles inform them, and that's probably why if it came down to Whiskey Peak or Little Garden getting cut, it would probably be Little Garden.
Also another small takeaway here from my own rewatch of the anime:
Drum Island REALLY drags in the first half. I think the Lapins stuff and the Wapol encounter at the base of the Drums aren't very fun or interesting, so I highly doubt that stuff will remain (I could see maybe the castle being moved to the base of the mountain perhaps?)
It'll also be interesting to see how the live action glows up Vivi.
EDIT: Just as I stop, he says "Doflamingo is the best villain in One Piece." "Greatest character Hasan has not met: Carrot" "I don't get Ace stans. I don't think there's enough of him to justify him being a popular character."
So many good nuggets at the point I stopped lol.
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@Kitsune-Inferno said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
"I don't get Ace stans. I don't think there's enough of him to justify him being a popular character."
So many good nuggets at the point I stopped lol.
this unlocked a core memory - that emo ace image back when marineford was going on
plus all the poochie references
AP circa 2010 man....
I remembered something. 18 years ago on this forum, no one had any idea that there'll be a live action. Tell someone back in 2005-2010 AP about the live action, they will be like "Hell no!"
But then the live action came out and it was a massive success. Quite funny isn't it?
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@Kitsune-Inferno said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
Main takeaways here are Nico Robin is his favorite, he's really in tune with character moments and how their interactions and battles inform them, and that's probably why if it came down to Whiskey Peak or Little Garden getting cut, it would probably be Little Garden.
Well, unless they moved Dorry and Broggy elsewhere, that would continue Usopp being the worst adapted character imo.
I love Whiskey Peak, but the most important scenes (Luffy's anger at Zoro, Vivi's request, Igaram's "death") can be done elsewhere. At the least, Usopp's character development requires warriors to look up to. Dorry and Broggy are fantastic in that role and there are a dozen payoffs to them down the line.
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But they are Giants on an Island with Dinosaurs and what not. So might want to change it for the budget, complexity reasons
I agree though. I dont think Little Garden will be skipped. But can Totally see Laboon getting cut
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@blue-san In my opinion, if they don't think they can do giants, then they shouldn't have done it at all. Giants are too important to the overall world. I don't think every giant person needs to be huge by any means, but Elbaf is one of the core locations of OP that we've known about for decades. It's unavoidable in a real adaptation. Lots of perspective tricks that can make them plausible, though.
And I think Dorry and Broggy are vital, not necessarily everything else about Little Garden. Avoiding dinosaurs would be smart, but I don't see having the two of them in the show as impossible. They interact with each other as far as fighting is concerned. Lots of tricks to allow for conversations and other such interactions.
@blue-san said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
Totally see Laboon getting cut
This isn't the 4kids era. And we know about Brook now.
Laboon isn't getting cut unless they have a hell of a replacement.
Seeing how they handled the fishmen, I'm a lot less worried about Brook now. I think they might go more Zombie than skeleton. Ditto Chopper, he's probably going to be in his big form more often unless they get a great puppet working.
@andre I'm not sure if all the bullet points I compiled are visible. I can't see them unless I quote the original post, but that wasn't some thought out of thin air. Matt Owen's has a lot of reverence for both arcs but the way he spoke about Whiskey Peak vs Little Garden was interesting because in terms of the Alabasta story, Vivi, Robin and Igaram seemed more important to him than the 3 and 5 teams.
Here's an interesting set of thoughts: who's to say Dorry and Brogy don't get moved to season 3? What if they replaced Masira and Shojo? I do think the giants are important but they are sideshows in the Baroque Works saga that could easily be repurposed elsewhere. 
@joekido-the-Second there actually was a thread floating the idea and I distinctly remember, one of my earliest posts, was saying it can't be done and like Prince of Tennis would work better
2009 me has been proven wrong.
This one here? haha https://forums.arlongpark.net/post/1277461
What's wild to me is that 2009 is before Hulu or Netflix had any original content. Even with today's tech and the team in place, there's no way a One Piece show could have been accomplished with 2009's tv model. It's too light hearted for HBO and its cousins (Cinemax, Showtime, etc.) and too costly for most cable tv channels.
After reading that post, I remember a DB idea I had that starts with Toriyama writing a prequel about Mutaito, Roshi, and Shen vs King Piccolo for 1 film.
Next film targets Pilaf. Something about Pilaf's machines really want me to see them modernized for live action. Going from Pilaf's crew to the tournament humbling, then RR Army would be real fun in live action.
There was barely a conversation, at least seriously, concerning giving a manga/anime a real adaptation until a couple of them failed. I don't remember there being that much pressure surrounding Bebop. It came off as if some felt there was no way it could be messed up because the nature of that anime or were just done with Netflix adapting anime in general.
Out of all the anime and manga, they put all that pressure on OP. Kinda unfair, but whatever.
@Cinder said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
This one here? haha https://forums.arlongpark.net/post/1277461
oh god that's the one. i even remember that post being up when my first ava was Goku on Kintoun. Probably one of my first few posts on the site!
edit: yeah posted the same DAY I joined. oh my.
@blue-san said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I agree though. I dont think Little Garden will be skipped. But can Totally see Laboon getting cut
How do you see them adapting Brook?
@Coookie said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
@blue-san said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I agree though. I dont think Little Garden will be skipped. But can Totally see Laboon getting cut
How do you see them adapting Brook?
Honestly speaking dont see them going beyond season 4 and since Brook would probably be in season 5 no problem really.
However if they do IMO = puppet 100%
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“I think [Netflix is] looking at various situations about how many episodes they do, do they break them up?”
I wonder what this says about the number of episodes. It also got me thinking about how season 1 got reduced from 10 episodes to 8. We know from Adelstein that "all ten scripts for season 1" were written by May of 2020. That means that two episodes were lost between then and when filming commenced in 2022. Conventional wisdom might say "oh yeah they were Loguetown", but I actually think I found one of the missing episodes:
There's a very common thing done in Hollywood where if an episode gets a rewrite, the original writer or writing duo is credited for Story and the revising writer or duo is credited for Teleplay. We see this in One Piece itself where Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are credited with Teleplay by, but interestingly enough there is no Story by credit. (This is just an aside, but I wonder if this is a symbolic gesture since the Story is technically by Oda?)
So with that in mind, why does episode 7 have four writers? Why are they creditted 'a & b and c & d' ? That's almost certainly because 'a & b' wrote one script and 'c & d' wrote another, and they were likely merged into what is Episode 7. Meaning that this suggests that possibly the original plan involved three episodes of Arlong Park.
Unfortunately, none of the other episodes offer compelling evidence that they were combined. They were all written by solo writers or pairs. No other Teleplay credits exist beyond the first episode. It's entirely possible the 10th episode was Loguetown.
Another thought I had is that maybe the episodes for season 2 were written during the pandemic. If season 1's episodes were done in 2020 and filming doesnt begin until 2022, there's a lot of down time in there and maybe to an earlier person's point, Netflix quietly ordered more scripts during that down time?
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@blue-san said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
Honestly speaking dont see them going beyond season 4 and since Brook would probably be in season 5 no problem really.
However if they do IMO = puppet 100%
So they're expecting to get canned? And if it turns out they don't, then what? What's gonna be the backstory of puppet-Brook?
I think they meant puppet Laboon. 
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I went back to the leaked script from March of 2020 which ended with Zoro getting strung up on the cross, which indicated that Morgan would be dealt with in episode 2. However, that does seem to be an extremely early draft that might have just been a proof of concept, so I don't think it's enough to say that episode 2 was originally planned to be Morgan.
@Kitsune-Inferno said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I think they meant puppet Laboon.
?
I think an animatronic is most likely, especially if they stick to their guns keeping as much of the show in-camera as possible.
Exactly although as soon you have to do anything other than regular dialog and movements and switch to fights and what not you would have to do CGI.
To be honest way more worried for Chopper since he ll be in season 2
This Hasan guy sounds unfun.
https://deadline.com/2023/09/one-piece-producers-manga-luffy-interview-1235544012/
An interesting interview to the producers 'bout the series and future seasons.
There's been a lot of talk about what will have to be changed and dropped in a potential season 2. Laboon has been mentioned as well as Dorry and Broggy and even Caroo. I've been about it and have come to the conclusion that Bon Kurei is going to possibly be the most difficult character to translate. They've done a tremendous job of being faithful to Oda's characters, but Okama in general are going to have to be delicately translated. If they do well, I think Bon Kurei and others have a chance of truly blowing up in a way that no other characters have on any Netflix show. If they don't get it right, it could offend people (It'll offend homophobes regardless) and just look awful.
Anyone else have thoughts on Bon Kurei and Okama in live action?
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@andre said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
I've been about it and have come to the conclusion that Bon Kurei is going to possibly be the most difficult character to translate.
They cast a trans actor for Coby and made zero deal about it.
It's safe to say they'll take a slightly more modern Western approach. They can tone down Bon (and the other newkama) to be a little less like the gross hairy legged beard stubble critters Oda created decades ago, and closer to the more respectful modern versions he did with Kiku and Yamato.
(However confusing his take with Yamato may have been)
@Robby
I feel like Bon is fine, but he's also very different than the kama kingdom Okama's. He's very intentionally not conforming to masculine or feminine standards. I think he has to stay that way, but do they keep the bulbous outfit and swan shoulders? Also, if he's the first queer character and comes off as performative, is that a problem? To me those are all pretty delicate questions.
Also, a Western approach in some ways is necessary, but the Okama is a very Japanese manifestation of queer identity. I think you miss something if you don't keep that fact in mind. And they're different than Kiku or Yamato. Kiku is decidedly trans and Yamato can probably be called gender nonconforming, but Bentham identifies as a man and a woman.
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I think they will cast a drag queen for Bon Clay. Drag Race is already on Netflix.
If they overdo it half of people are out not watching it anymore
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@andre said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
@Robby
Also, a Western approach in some ways is necessary, but the Okama is a very Japanese manifestation of queer identity. I think you miss something if you don't keep that fact in mind. And they're different than Kiku or Yamato. Kiku is decidedly trans and Yamato can probably be called gender nonconforming, but Bentham identifies as a man and a woman.
Yes, obviously they're different.
My point is, Bon aside, what Oda did with gender non-conformers 15 years ago is really gross "these ugly ugly men are dressed like women, Sanji is really grossed out by them" whereas more recently he did something a lot more respectful about people that don't conform. Kiku didn't have beard stubble or a giant chin or anything, she just looked female. And Yamato declared he was a man over and over despite doing nothing to change his appearance.
Everything with Ivonokov is okay because that is so blatantly Tim Curry Rocky Horror that its okay, that's where it begins and ends with that particular portrayal. Everythng else around them is... oof.
Assuming it's reached, I'm curious if they cast two actors as Ivankov, just use makeup and costume changes to indicate gender switches, or cut it altogether. Technically the gender hormone part isn't terribly important to the plot (unless it is...Crocomom??) and Ivankov could just be extra fabulous but I think most fans would be upset by leaving that out.
Bon Clay should be played by a drag queen, obviously. The Kamabakka Kingdom, assuming we ever get to adapting it, presents a few more problems. It shouldn't be an issue to portray the okama as less disgusting since no one is attached to those designs anyway. But Sanji's reaction and 'trials' with them are problematic and something Netflix definitely won't want to play straight. Basically every Strawhat separation is a bad location that they make the best of- how do you indicate that Kamabakka Kingdom is bad for Sanji without being transphobic?
We'll definitely have a clearer picture of OPLA's approach once we reach Water 7 and Enies Lobby but I'm sure they're also having these debates right now too.
One benefit of Kamabakka Kingdom- my wife noted while watching that Koby is potentially trans-coded, which is naturally informed by Koby being played by a trans actor. She had a hard time with a queer person/character joining an authoritarian military arm for ACAB reasons. Kamabakka being so closely tied to the Revolutionaries is a strong answer to those qualms, albeit one that won't be evident for several years.
@Robby said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):
Everythng else around them is... oof.
I kind of disagree. Kamabakka Island is pretty offensive, but New Kama land isn't at all. It just features a bunch of prisoners in fishnets and bunny ears/drag. Sticking closer to that and doing away with the giant jaws and stubbly legs would be enough imo. The worst element of Kamabakka Island isn't even their depiction physically, it's the sexual assault vibes of it. I think they can easily just make that disappear if they choose to.
Bon Clay and Newkama Land have more in line with drag culture and gender fuckery than they do with trans identity, even though I think Oda has certainly mishandled the distinction.
I cited Jimbo as a possible Bon Clay. Jimbo is both very out there but has the ability to take direction and can act his ass off, plus his Joan Rivers voice isn't too far off from Kazuki Yao's that I could see something similar working and feeling effortless. The only knock against Jimbo is he's not known for dancing and Bon Clay does require some degree of physicality to make convincing, but I'm sure that can be solved with ballet classes.
That's not to say Jimbo is the only drag queen who could do it, there's a whole cabal of Drag Race queens who would kill it. And that's of course scratching the surface of drag queens.
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My first thought was Jim Rash, but I do think the actor should look somewhat physically threatening enough that when he does combat it doesn't feel too ridiculous and I don't think he can pull that off.
Season 2 is official!
