On Thursday, March 7, 2024, there were whispers in the wind about a possible return to work for the One Piece Live Action season 2 crew come June 2024. While these murmurs haven’t been officially confirmed at the time of writing, they’ve been circulating among several trustworthy sources dedicated to all things Live Action.
Adding fuel to the fire hints about the second season of One Piece Live Action seem to align with statements from the show’s main cast regarding their availability for the latter part of the year.
Both Taz Skylar and Mackenyu Arata have dropped hints suggesting they’ll be tied up elsewhere outside of South Africa during the second half of the year.
Now, why is this such a big deal? Well, Tomorrow Studios, the brains behind the Netflix adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s epic manga, is based in South Africa.
It’s where much of the magic happened during the filming of the first season, and all signs point to a repeat performance for the upcoming season of One Piece Live Action. Looks like South Africa’s sunny shores will once again play host to the adventures of our beloved pirates.
The Hints and Speculations Surrounding the Start of Filming for One Piece Live Action Season 2
The first hint about the starting point for filming One Piece Live Action season 2 seems to have surfaced around a month ago during an interview with The Hook.
In this conversation, Taz Skylar, who portrays Sanji in the series, dropped a tantalizing clue about his plans for the latter part of the year. He mentioned, “In the second half of the year, I think there is a long stint in South Africa that I roughly know the dates for to shoot the second season of One Piece.”
This specific mention of the second half of the year and the tentative shooting dates piqued fans’ curiosity, though it wasn’t solid evidence on its own. However, recent footage of Mackenyu adds weight to the theory of a June 2024 filming kickoff.
In a video clip from earlier this week, Mackenyu was questioned about the locations within Japan for the One Piece card game tournaments.
His response was telling: he expressed his inability to attend, citing that he won’t be in the country at that time and is gearing up to start filming the second season soon. He even went on to mention that unless there’s a tournament in South Africa, he won’t be able to participate in any upcoming events.
While Mackenyu didn’t explicitly state that he would be in South Africa shooting for One Piece Live Action season 2, his remarks, coupled with Taz’s and the fact that Tomorrow Studios is based in South Africa, strongly hint at filming preparations being underway.
Moreover, with the latest unconfirmed reports aligning with this speculated June 2024 date, it appears that the series is poised to resume production in the not-too-distant future.