It’s going to be quite a while until we see anything of season 2 of the live-action One Piece show. At the time of writing, filming should have only just started, but there are a couple of details about it that have been confirmed: which new villains Luffy and his crew will be facing, and who is playing them.
While there are no story details about season 2, it sounds like it will fittingly be adapting the Alabaster Saga (the manga/anime’s second major story arc) since it will feature members of that saga’s main antagonists: a criminal syndicate called Baroque Works. The syndicate is comprised of a lot of characters, but Variety has shared casting details on four of its higher-ranking members, who long-time fans of One Piece should be plenty familiar with.
First is Daniel Lasker, whose previous credits include a recurring role in sci-fi drama series Raised by Wolves, as the princely and slightly flamboyant Mr. 9. Second is Camrus Johnson, who played the superhero Batwing in the Batwoman TV show, as Mr. 5.
Third is Jazzara Jaslyn as Miss Valentine, Mr. 5’s partner in crime. Jaslyn has appeared in several other TV shows, with her most prominent roles probably being in thriller series Lioness and the third season of martial arts crime drama Warrior. Last but not least is David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3, perhaps the most sadistic and twisted of these four villains. Dastmalchian has a lot of credits to his name, including Polka-Dot Man in 2021’s The Suicide Squad movie and the lead in 2023 supernatural horror Late Night with the Devil.
It remains to be seen if other top members of Baroque Works will make an appearance, such as its two leaders: Mr. 0 and All Day Sunday. Without giving too much away, those two characters play very important roles in the original manga and anime, so their presence in the Netflix show feels like a guarantee. Whether or not they appear in season 2 depends on what Netflix’s plans for it are. It may just condense the Alabaster Saga into a single season, or perhaps it’ll let the saga run into season 3 as well (assuming it gets renewed for another season).
The Alabaster Saga is considered by some to be one of One Piece‘s best storylines, in part because of its villains, so there’ll be high expectations for how Baroque Works is depicted. I’m especially interested to see how the show will handle these villains’ powers as well. No spoilers for anyone who’s only watched the Netflix show, but these bad guys have some interesting and dangerous abilities that should up the stakes. The original manga and anime saga also allowed each member of the Straw Hat Crew to shine in their own individual fight scenes, so here’s hoping the Netflix show offers something similar.
