Looks like you can’t stay King of the Pirates forever. After being at the helm of the hit Netflix live adaptation of the popular manga and anime series “One Piece,” executive producer and co-showrunner Matt Owens announced in an Instagram post on Friday, March 21, that he would be leaving the series in order to address personal issues he’s currently facing.
“The 6 years working on the live action ‘One Piece’ has been a life changing journey. A dream come true. It’s also been A LOT,” Owens wrote in his post. “So I’m stepping off the Going Merry to take a break and focus on myself and my mental health.”
Development on the show began in 2017, with Netflix purchasing it in 2020 and bringing on Steven Maeda as showrunner in 2021. Owens was serving as head writer and executive producer on the project at the time, but given the title of co-showrunner in 2022 at the same time casting was announced. The first season dropped in August of 2023, but Season 2 was delayed as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and didn’t complete production until December 2024. Joe Tracz joined Owens as co-showrunner for Season 2 after Maeda left following Season 1. While there is no official announcement, the WGA do have “One Piece” listed as being in production for Season 3, suggesting an oncoming renewal, though it’s unclear whether Owens leaving the show will upend these plans.
After thanking many involved in making the show happen, Owens said in his statement, “For now I’m gonna take a breath, do some therapy, try and rank up in ‘Marvel Rivals,’ and come back refreshed for the new adventures that await.”
Following the release of the first season, Maeda spoke to IndieWire about the challenges of bringing such a beloved manga to life, but a guiding light for him, Owens, and the rest of the team was capturing the magic of how “One Piece” made them feel.
“I knew there would be a lot of expectations, especially from the fans who are very protective and rightfully so,” Maeda said. “They don’t want their favorite manga to not be representative of the emotions they felt the first time they read it. I just wanted to faithfully keep all the fun and goofy moments while never giving emotion short shrift. That was the No. 1 goal: You want to be able to have both of those things co-exist.”
“One Piece” follows Monkey D. Luffy as he gathers a crew to seek out the One Piece treasure that will allow him to become 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 first season of the show spent eight weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10, debuting at #1 in 46 countries.
Read Owens’ full Instagram post below.
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