‘One Piece’: Buggy, Alvida & Gold Roger Return As Season 2 Starts Production
One Piece‘s Season 1 breakout, Jeff Ward’s Buggy, will be back for Season 2 of the popular Netflix pirate adventure series. Also returning next season are fellow villain Alvida, played by Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, as well as Michael Dorman’s Pirate King Gold Roger whose execution opened the show, setting off the race to find his hidden treasure.
The live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga has started production in South Africa for a 2025 launch. The streamer marked the occasion with a video featuring the Straw Hat Crew, stars Iñaki Godoy (Monkey D. Luffy), Mackenyu (Zoro), Emily Rudd (Nami), Jacob Romero (Usopp) and Taz Skylar (Sanji) as they reunite on the The Going Merry set in Cape Town. (You can watch it below.)
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Buggy’s return was never in doubt in light of the character’s pop culture fame and TikTok sex symbol status.
“I knew that people would really like him,” One Piece Season 1 showrunner Matt Owens said of Ward’s performance last fall. “To the extent that they have, to the extent that they have been horny for him, that’s new for me, but I’m glad to see him getting the attention that he deserves as an artist.”
Alvida’s comeback makes sense as she and Buggy team up to take down Luffy.
In his October interview with Deadline, Owens explained why One Piece villains like Buggy and Alvida do not die, allowing them to come back.
“Dreams are very important in the One Piece world, and Oda has said before that what’s worse than death is a dream being taken away. So when you see a lot of the villains that we meet, they have these machinations, they have these desires — often nefarious — and the Straw Hats take those away from them,” Owens said. “For Oda as an artist, the way that he has described it, that is a fate worse than death. So that’s something that he likes to focus on in villain confrontations instead, and what it also allows him to do though is, when there is death in One Piece, it’s even more impactful because you’re not dealing with death every single story arc necessarily.”
Previously announced new cast members joining Season 2 include Brendan Sean Murray as Brogy, Callum Kerr as Smoker, Camrus Johnson as Mr. 5, Clive Russell as Crocus, Daniel Lasker as Mr. 9, David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3, Jazzara Jaslyn as Miss Valentine, Julia Rehwald as Tashigi, Rob Colletti as Wapol, Ty Keogh as Dalton, and Werner Coetser as Dorry.
Created in partnership with Shueisha and produced by Tomorrow Studios (an ITV Studios partner) and Netflix, One Piece follows Luffy as he sets off from his small village on a perilous journey to find the legendary fabled treasure, One Piece, to become King of the Pirates. But in order to find the ultimate prize, Luffy will need to assemble the crew he’s always wanted before finding a ship to sail, searching every inch of the vast seas, outpacing the Marines, and outwitting dangerous rivals at every turn.
Owens and Joe Tracz serve as writers, executive producers and co-showrunners of Season 2. Oda also executive produces along with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements through Tomorrow Studios, Tetsu Fujimura, Chris Symes and Steven Maeda.
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