Appears like you may’t keep King of the Pirates eternally. After being on the helm of the hit Netflix stay adaptation of the favored manga and anime sequence “One Piece,” govt producer and co-showrunner Matt Owens introduced in an Instagram publish on Friday, March 21, that he could be leaving the sequence in an effort to tackle private points he’s at the moment dealing with.
“The 6 years engaged on the stay motion ‘One Piece’ has been a life altering journey. A dream come true. It’s additionally been A LOT,” Owens wrote in his publish. “So I’m stepping off the Going Merry to take a break and concentrate on myself and my psychological well being.”
Growth on the present started in 2017, with Netflix buying it in 2020 and bringing on Steven Maeda as showrunner in 2021. Owens was serving as head author and govt producer on the mission on the time, however given the title of co-showrunner in 2022 on the similar time casting was introduced. The primary season dropped in August of 2023, however Season 2 was delayed because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and didn’t full manufacturing till December 2024. Joe Tracz joined Owens as co-showrunner for Season 2 after Maeda left following Season 1. Whereas there isn’t a official announcement, the WGA do have “One Piece” listed as being in manufacturing for Season 3, suggesting an oncoming renewal, although it’s unclear whether or not Owens leaving the present will upend these plans.
After thanking many concerned in making the present occur, Owens mentioned in his assertion, “For now I’m gonna take a breath, do some remedy, try to rank up in ‘Marvel Rivals,’ and are available again refreshed for the brand new adventures that await.”
Following the discharge of the primary season, Maeda spoke to IndieWire in regards to the challenges of bringing such a beloved manga to life, however a guiding mild for him, Owens, and the remainder of the crew was capturing the magic of how “One Piece” made them really feel.
“I knew there could be a number of expectations, particularly from the followers who’re very protecting and rightfully so,” Maeda mentioned. “They don’t need their favourite manga to not be consultant of the feelings they felt the primary time they learn it. I simply wished to faithfully preserve all of the enjoyable and goofy moments whereas by no means giving emotion quick shrift. That was the No. 1 purpose: You need to have the ability to have each of these issues co-exist.”
“One Piece” follows Monkey D. Luffy as he gathers a crew to hunt out the One Piece treasure that can permit him to develop into King of the Pirates. It stars Iñaki Godoy as Luffy, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. The primary season of the present spent eight weeks in Netflix’s World Prime 10, debuting at #1 in 46 nations.
Learn Owens’ full Instagram publish under.