One Piece had such great success with its first season that Netflix greenlit season 2. However, once the series is no longer profitable, it may be that Netflix cancels it before Luffy and his friends reach the end of their journey. Producer Matt Owens now reveals what would happen in that case.
What would happen then? In a Q&A session on the reddit forum, user Speashasha wanted to know what would happen to the Netflix adaptation if it were canceled prematurely. According to him, Netflix and other streaming services have the habit of ending series after three seasons.
That’s why he is concerned about what would happen to One Piece if Netflix only approved one final season. His question has been translated by MeinMMO into German:
Given the long production time of this series and the fact that streaming providers usually cancel everything after three seasons, how long do you think the series will run and would you make drastic cuts to the source material if Netflix came to you and said they would do a final season?
via reddit.com
Matt Owens responded shortly after and promptly stated that he has a clear idea of how the ending should go. He wouldn’t want a “false ending” like in the video games and would try to bring the series to a clean conclusion:
Do you know how at the end of Pirate Warriors 3 they threw in a bunch of Yonko stuff in Dressrosa and the last levels of the game? I don’t plan to do that. I don’t want to rush things or create a false ending for the series. When we know we’re approaching the end, I hope we can finish the story appropriately where we are and that people will pick up the anime or manga to continue the journey.
via reddit.com
It seems that it’s not a problem for Matt Owens if the series ends prematurely. Actress Emily Rudd, who plays Nami, has already said that she could retire peacefully if One Piece were to be canceled.
Owens suggests that fans should read the manga or watch the anime if they are interested in the story of One Piece. Should it come to the point where the Netflix series must be concluded before the original story ends, Owens wants to ensure a standalone ending.
So far, the live-action adaptation of One Piece has only one season. The appropriate trailer for it can be found on MeinMMO:
Owens wants to prevent a false ending
What was the problem with Pirate Warriors 3? In the last chapter of the video game, Luffy goes to Dressrosa. One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda published the first chapter of the arc in 2013 and concluded the arc in 2015.
However, the video game One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 was released on March 26, 2015. This means that the Dressrosa arc was not yet completed during the concept phase. Since the development team didn’t know how the arc would turn out, they had to come up with an alternative ending.
There was a similar case with One Piece Pirate Warriors 4. The Wano Country arc ran from 2019 to 2022 in the manga, but the video game was released in 2020. So there was no chance to incorporate the conclusion of the arc.
That’s why the ending of the video game deviated from what One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda had in mind for the manga. In the video game, antagonist Blackbeard appeared, who was neither on the island at that time in the anime nor in the manga.
But this problem should not exist with the Netflix series. The series is many years behind the anime and manga, which means there is still plenty of time to tell Luffy and Co.’s story as closely to the original as possible.
In the Netflix series, the adventures continue in season 2. There we meet a new character that fans are already eager to see: One Piece on Netflix gets season 2 and a new character is involved.
