Last week, it was announced that One Piece Season 2 will premiere to Netflix subscription holders in March 2026, but fans can also take comfort not having to worry about the live-action show’s future beyond that. We’ve officially known since August that One Piece Season 3 is on the way, although we’d known of its existence way before then thanks to Roronoa Zoro actor Mackenyu. Now the first Season 3 casting has been revealed, and I really like who’s been chosen to play Bon Clay, a.k.a. Mr. 2.
Tony-winning actor Cole Escola has been tapped to play the high-ranking Baroque Works member ahead of One Piece heading back to Cape Town, South Africa to resume production later this year. Like the manga/anime counterpart, Escola’s Mr. 2 is described by Deadline as a “master of performance and precision, and “as dangerous as they are dazzling — a theatrical assassin who turns combat into art.” Like Escola, the Mr. 2 in Netflix’s One Piece is “envisioned as non-binary.”
In addition to starring in TV shows like Difficult People, Mozart in the Jungle, At Home with Amy Sedaris and The Girls on the Bus, Cole Escola is best known for writing and starring in Oh Mary!, which is a spoof about Mary Todd Lincoln’s relationship with President Abraham Lincoln in the days leading up to his assassination. Oh Mary! has been met with numerous accolades since premiering on Broadway last year, including Escola winning the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, and the production as a whole being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Back in July 2024, my colleague Mick Joest wondered how Mr. 2 would be handled in Netflix’s One Piece given that Bon Clay’s genderfluid identity was played as more of a joke when he was depicted in the manga and anime. I think with Cole Escola playing the character, we won’t have to worry about Mr. 2 being portrayed in a mocking way, and that the live-action series will find other ways to present them humorously. After all, there’s a lot that can be done with their diva personality and the shapeshifting they’re capable of thanks to eating the Clone-Clone Fruit.
As mentioned earlier, Bon Clay is high up in the Baroque Works hierarchy, with his few superiors including Joe Manganiello’s Crocodile, a.k.a. Mr. 0, the leader of Baroque Works, as well as Lera Abova’s Miss All Sunday. However, to go into minor spoilers, Bon Clay eventually becomes an ally of the Straw Hat Pirates and returns much later after the Alabasta Saga. So depending on how long Netflix’s One Piece lasts, Cole Escola could be in it for the long haul with this role.
I’ll admit that I’m disappointed that Mr. 2 won’t appear in One Piece Season 2, but I’m also glad their introduction has merely been delayed rather than them being left out of the show entirely. Among the other new characters we’ll meet in Season 2 include David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3, Callum Kerr as Smoker, Katey Sagal as Dr. Kureha, Charithra Chandran as Miss Wednesday, and Mikaela Hoover voicing Tony Tony Chopper. We’ll see these faces and many more when the next season of One Piece arrives on March 10, 2026.
