The Hollywood Writers’ Strike is finally over, and with it the ban on writers speaking about projects. Now the One Piece showrunners are opening up about live-action season two! In an AMA on Reddit, they answered a few questions and had some surprising answers for things they would like to do with their story. Namely, they commented on creating spinoff shows for One Piece! Which characters would be able to hold a spinoff of their own though?
This article will contain some light spoilers for One Piece, and complete spoilers for One Piece live-action. Anything outside of the live-action timeline will be vague, but definitely catch up with the manga on MangaPlus or Viz as it’s the fastest way to avoid spoilers.
Will One Piece Have a Spin-Off?
According to one of the show’s writers, Matt Owens, yes! They say that One Piece will hopefully get a chance for a few spinoffs, considering everything in the main story. There are plenty of characters to draw from, with rich history even outside the Grand Line. Specifically, the showrunner said that Mihawk would be one of his main candidates to bring a spinoff show, and that would be a delight for quite a few fans.
Dracule ‘Hawkeye’ Mihawk
Mihawk is one of One Piece’s most popular characters, and he’s also one of the strongest to this day. The live-action gave a taste of what’s to come from this character, one of the great Warlords of the Sea. After the reception to the character, who blew up online thanks to both his accuracy of the character and sheer good looks, Netflix is sure to greenlight a prequel series for the character if Matt Owens has his way.
According to the creator, a prequel of Hawkeye’s rise to Warlord would be his first choice. If there is anything that will make an awesome short series in the One Piece world, this would be it. There are so many cool parts of the character that haven’t even been explored in the manga yet. Now seeing how he became such a badass would be awesome.
Buggy’s Delivery Service
Another of the standout characters of One Piece live-action so far. Jeff Ward’s Buggy is one of the best characters in the series. Seriously, the guy has caught the essence of what makes the Genius Jester so great! After this, it’s going to be awesome to see him spread throughout future seasons. Where does his spinoff idea come in though, since he’s pretty heavily tied with the main story of One Piece? It wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, to say the least. No, the best time to give Buggy a spinoff would be after about four or five seasons. Ideally, picking up after the Marineford War.
There’s amazing potential for an adventure comedy starring Buggy in charge of Buggy’s Delivery Service. That’s the mercenary business he starts not long after the events of Marineford, a mass pirate war. It’s incredibly successful, but it’s also a complete farce because Buggy is constantly failing upward while having his ass kicked around. Even just giving Buggy and his crew a workplace comedy dealing with the mercenary business would be hilarious, and leave plenty of chances for character crossover with the main show.
Bon Clay
This character hasn’t even been cast yet, but he’s going to be a massive hit when he does premiere in the live-action. Bon Clay is quite the character, a gender-fluid shape-shifter who holds the Clone-Clone Fruit and has an obsession with swans. He’s also one of the Straw Hats best friends and has quite the adventures outside of the time he interacts with Luffy. There are a lot of possibilities for a show involving Bon Clay, but the best ideas would center on his comedic aspects.
There’s the other issue that Bon Clay has some places he HAS to be at certain points in the story. This can make it difficult, but there’s potentially a short comedy spinoff after Impel Down, it could be great.
Ace’s Adventures
Nobody has any single doubt that Ace won’t be a massive fan favorite as soon as he debuts in One Piece live-action. The brother of Luffy is known as the Fire Fist, an infamous pirate on the Grand Line. He’s also a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, who are a major crew in the Grand Line. Ace is actually a Commander in Whitebeard’s fleet, and this could be a great place to introduce a limited spinoff. Something about Ace’s past and possibly his journeys during the early seasons of One Piece.
Ace sets out before Luffy from their home Windmill Village, but he’ll debut in season two during the Arabasta Saga. He has plenty of adventures to pull from in the time before Luffy hits the seas. It could potentially set up a few future characters that Luffy meets later. The two have heavily intertwined journeys, so Ace will be in and out of the next few seasons of One Piece, but this is definitely a possibility after his character gets some time with audiences.
The Revolutionary Army
The slightest hints were there for the Revolutionary Army in the first season, like Dragon at Gold Roger’s execution. They’re simultaneously one of the greatest presences in the Grand Line and the most unseen characters in the early days of One Piece. That may make it hard to set it up at first, but setting up a spinoff of the Revolutionaries after the main show finishes the Dressrosa arc would be amazing.
There is going to be a lot of intertwining narrative between the Straw Hats and Revolutionaries in the second half of the series. That said, they end up doing a lot of things at a lot of the same times as Luffy makes big moves, so to get their behind-the-scenes view on things would be great. As things escalate through the Grand Line, their presence will be much more omnipotent throughout, and Luffy will have some close calls alongside them.
Worst Generation
Another spinoff that won’t have any business happening until after the characters are introduced, which wouldn’t be until around season four or five. It would be a great ensemble series though, sort of like Game of Thrones but focusing on New World politics in the present day. The Worst Generation is a name given to twelve pirates that enter the Grand Line around the same time, each with massive bounties of over one hundred million Berry. Luffy and Zoro are two of those at the time the group is introduced.
The group contains some big main characters too, such as Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid. A long-reaching anthology series keeping tabs on the crews not involved in the main series could be a cool idea if even just a short miniseries and not ongoing. If anything it would be a good chance to get better acquainted with characters that play a part later or may be absent for a bit, like Blackbeard or Bonney.
Will One Piece Have a Prequel?
This is the biggest thing that could come out of the series, but it wouldn’t happen until the main series is over. An entire series covering the Void Century has House of the Dragon-level potential. Though hopefully without the Game of Thrones final season disappointment. The Void Century hasn’t made it into the live-action series yet, but will in the next season. Sooner, the better because it becomes one of the driving forces behind the series. This is a full hundred years completely wiped from history in the world of One Piece. Nobody knows what it is, with nobody allowed to research it.
Obviously sketchy, and finding out the secret of the Void Century is closely tied with One Piece itself. The details of the Void Century are still incredibly cloudy even in the advanced stages the manga is in now. What we do know is that it culminates in a massive war that leads to the One Piece’s original creation. That seems like a damn fine place to start a prequel, even if we do know how the story ends yet.
Shanks
Okay, there won’t be any important things about Shanks outside the main show. But, if anyone has the potential for a prequel it’s Shanks. There’s so much to know about his time between giving Luffy the hat and becoming an Emperor of the Sea. Hell, there’s a lot to know about Shanks forming his crew! We see him as a kid at the execution of Gold Roger but don’t know where he goes from there.
A series following Shanks much in the same way it follows Luffy, setting off and gathering his crew, would be great to see. It would have to be after the main show ends most likely, and might not make for a long spin-off series. But it could bring in some of the fan favorites from the main series for returning roles, allowing some returns for beloved characters.
The Roger Pirates
Gold Roger’s crew is prime for a prequel, and that is incredibly likely to happen after the main story of One Piece ends. There are a decent amount of flashbacks later on in the story to various moments they have, but nothing comprehensive. Even now there aren’t many confirmed members of the Roger Pirates. Only Crocus, Silvers Rayleigh, and a couple of their apprentices are for sure. There is a character later in the series named Kozuki Oden who also found the One Piece alongside them.
A Roger Pirates prequel would be a great chance to see some younger versions of fan-favorite characters interacting. Not only that, it would be a cool insight into the world before the events of One Piece. Plus it could show the Roger Pirates journey that Luffy will eventually follow. When it comes to the Void Century, the Roger Pirates have that as a major motivation for their journey, and Gold Roger knew what he was doing telling people about the One Piece.
New World Politics
By far one of the coolest ideas for a spinoff that probably wouldn’t work if set during the present story. There are a lot of political gears turning behind the Grand Line, especially in the second half, the New World. This would best be set as a historical drama type of show, and focus on one specific state of the New World, namely the Four Emperors dynamic that rules it. Shanks is one of these Emperors, and starting the story off the other three are Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom. These characters all have an extensive history together, and the political atmosphere and skirmishes could make some early Game of Thrones-level television.
There is a LOT of political turmoil that comes into play much later in the main story. Big Mom forming a family, Kaido’s brutal takeover of Wano, or Whitebeard’s reputation as adoptive father would be amazing. Even just a prequel about the Whitebeard Pirates could be really cool, as they’re a massively diverse fleet of pirates.
Could One Piece Have An Anthology?
Probably not the best idea from a budget standpoint but would be a really cool idea later in the series. One Piece has a lot of moving parts to focus on. Most characters end up moving around without much notice or time between. That means there’s plenty of potential for one-off episodes or seasons about different pirate crews, especially through the Grand Line’s history. An episode about the Giant Pirates, even chronicling Dorry and Broggy’s argument beginning, could be amazing. Perhaps interspersed stories of the Straw Hat Fleet that form later on, or even just the cover stories from the manga.
There’s really no shortage of characters or stories from One Piece to pull from when it comes to spinoffs and forming more shows. A whole ocean to choose from, and every idea could be a monster of a show in its own right. One Piece is bound for good things if the live-action series keeps up the quality it started out with, and spinoffs are just going to be the start of that.
