The first season of Netflix’s live-action One Piece had covered (and compressed) the first East Blue Saga, and the second season is ready to bring the characters to the desert of Arabasta.
It had been teased that the crew will be going up against Baroque Works’ Mr. 0/Crocodile this time, and the show has managed to nab one A-list talent who also turns out to be a massive geek.
Key Baroque Works Members have been Cast
Though Netflix hasn’t made the official announcement themselves yet, it has been revealed online that Joe Manganiello (who also hosted this year’s Geeked Week for Netflix) is going to be playing Baroque Works’ leader Mr. 0/Crocodile. It’s also been revealed that Lera Abova (Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin) is going to be playing the part of Miss All Sunday/Nico Robin.
In the manga, Crocodile is another Devil Fruit consumer, and his fruit gives him power over sand—which would be problematic for a setting like Arabasta, which is mostly desert. Besides his towering height, he’s defined by his signature golden hook—because a series about pirates is bound to have a character with a hook hand at any point.
As for Nico/All Sunday, she has also eaten a Devil Fruit (Flower-Flower Fruit), and it gave her the power to ‘blossom’ duplicates of her body parts on her body, on other people’s bodies, or on different surfaces.
No doubt, Crocodile and Nico Robin are two of the biggest characters that will be coming this season; Crocodile being the main antagonist and Nico being a future member of the Straw Hats.
Other members of Baroque Works include Mr. 3 (David Dastmalchian), Miss Valentine (Jazzara Jaslyn), Mr. 5 (Camrus Johnson), and Mr. 9 (Daniel Lasker).
The show has also cast the part of Miss Wednesday/Vivi early with August’s announcement of Charithra Chandran landing the part:
Though Miss Wednesday may seem like a small-potatoes Baroque agent, she actually has a very important role to play in this arc from the manga. It’s not clear how the live-action series is going to change her story, but they’ll probably keep a lot of the core elements of the character.
Second-Hand Smoker
Though Crocodile is considered to be the primary antagonist of the Arabasta Arc, the first season had ended with a teaser for upcoming villain Smoker. Unlike Crocodile who is a Warlord of the Seas, Smoker is actually a marine, and a recurring antagonist for the Straw Hat crew.
Fans should expect Smoker to have a clash with the Straw Hats in Loguetown and eventually keep chasing after them across the season. With Luffy’s grandpa Garp being the face of the Marines in the first season, Smoker is going to help flesh out the faction and showcase more of the military and their crazy powers.
Season 2 Release Window?
Production for the second season had already started way back, but it’s still unclear when Season 2 is going to release. A new featurette has been dropped giving a look at the set, but even the release year was bleeped out by the end.
With the heavy CG that the series requires, fans may have to wait for two years since the release of the first season, but depending on the status of production, things could always move around.
No official release date has been set for One Piece Season 2, but the first season is now available to stream on Netflix.