One Piece season 2 couldn't be higher.

Netflix originals taking two or more years between seasons has become common, especially for the streamer's most popular and expensive shows. Stranger Things season 5 is releasing in 2025 after a three-year hiatus, which is the same amount of time between the first and second seasons of Wednesday. However, One Piece has one tricky disadvantage compared to other Netflix series, which is how long it will take for it to cover any significant portion of its source material.

One Piece Season 2's 2026 Release Confirms Our Worst Fears About The Adaptation

It Is Taking Netflix's One Piece Several Years To Get Through Arabasta

One Piece season 2 is coming out in 2026, at least two and a half years after the first season. For Netflix standards, One Piece's hiatus is not uncommon and can even be described as normal. However, for a show that has over 1000 manga chapters left to adapt, One Piece taking this long between seasons is worrying. Of course, it was always reasonable to assume that the Netflix live-action show would not cover all of the manga, which is not even finished, but even the most realistic predictions are now looking complicated.

One Piece season 2 will cover Loguetown, Reverse Mountain, Whisky Peak, Little Garden, and Drum Island.

Even if One Piece season 3 comes out shortly after the second season, the live-action show will have taken at least four years just to get through Arabasta. After the Arabasta Saga, Netflix's One Piece will still have over 900 chapters left to cover, meaning the show will still have only scratched the surface of Oda's masterpiece. If One Piece season 3 comes out in 2027, we could be looking at a 2028 or 2029 release for a potential fourth season covering Skypiea, at the earliest.

It's Hard To Imagine Netflix's One Piece Covering Much Of The Source Material

Even If Netflix's One Piece Lasts Dozens Of Seasons, The Manga Is Too Long

One Piece season 1 was a huge success, and there is no reason to imagine that the show will not continue for more and more seasons. However, even Netflix's biggest shows of all time only ran for so many seasons before it was time to wrap up. Cobra Kai recently ended with season 6, while Stranger Things is concluding with season 5. 2025 will also see the end of Squid Game after three seasons. Netflix's current longest-running original scripted show is Virgin River at seven seasons.

Even if One Piece were to cover one major saga per season, it would still take decades for the show to make significant progress compared to the pacing of the manga. It is almost unfair to expect that a live-action series covers a good portion of one of the longest-running works of fiction of all time, especially considering how demanding the production of a show of that scale is.

I don't mind if Netflix's One Piece creates its own ending for Luffy's story whenever it is time for the show to end. It is difficult to predict whether the One Piece manga will have ended already by the time the live-action adaptation gets to its final season, but it is possible to wrap up the Netflix show relatively early into Luffy's adventure in a way that honors the source material.

I would love for Netflix's One Piece to at least get through all of the pre-time skip arcs, even if it means combining multiple storylines into one and skipping certain events.

Both Skypiea and Enies Lobby would offer interesting ways to end the show, and even Arabasta could work as the grand finale. That said, I would love for Netflix's One Piece to at least get through all of the pre-time skip arcs, even if it means combining multiple storylines into one and skipping certain events.