‘We’ve got scripts ready’: Given Netflix’s reputation, the biggest hurdle facing season 2 of its record-breaking new series is being renewed

Thanks to a debut that saw it reach number one in more countries than the first seasons of Stranger Things and Wednesday that yielded a massive viewership of 140 million hours, it’s about as likely as it gets that Netflix will renew One Piece for a second season.

Shaking off the curse of live-action anime adaptations that saw Death Note trashed by critics and fans alike before Cowboy Bebop was canceled less than three weeks after premiering, there’s every reason to be confident about the Straw Hats returning for another adventure.

The downside is that it might not be confirmed for a while, or maybe it might, because Netflix’s renewal strategy is downright maddening. Happy to wait a couple of weeks or almost a year and a half to confirm or deny whether a show will return with no rhyme or reason, Variety reached out to the company for clarification on One Piece‘s status, and was swiftly met with a standard “no comment.”

Despite that, Tomorrow Studios CEO Marty Adelstein and president Becky Clements are confident enough to confirm that the scripts are already written, and things could get moving faster than your typical Netflix blockbuster should the strikes be resolved sooner rather than later.

“Realistically, hopefully, a year away, if we move very quickly, and that is a possibility. Somewhere between a year and 18 months, we could be ready for air.”

At this stage, it would come as a massive shock were One Piece not handed season 2 imminently, and we could be getting it in a much faster timescale than normal for Netflix, too.