Everything We Know About the ‘One Piece’ Live-Action Series
There’s nothing I love more than a live-action anime reboot.
They always go over so well, don’t they? People just can’t get enough of these live-action anime reboots. And we’re all girding our loins in excitement, right? After all, there’s really nothing better than the copious amounts of CGI that studios have to use in order to make the fantastical characters and otherworldly locations of an iconic anime look … marginally acceptable.
Thankfully, One Piece doesn’t have any of that, right? No comically large clown ships piloted by ham-fisted pirates over 20 feet tall, right? No fantastical fish men and giant monsters to do battle with? Nobody has any sort of impossible superpowers that they perform while looking preternaturally cool? Right?
I must be thinking of another anime …
Alright, so what’s this nautical nonsense about?
We don’t have any details about the official plot of the One Piece adaptation, but we do know that there’s gonna be a whole season of it. And if season one goes well, there may be no foreseeable end to the amount of follow up seasons we’ll get. After all, the original anime is over 1000 episodes long and still going. They could milk this thing forever if they get the money.
The original story of One Piece is this: on a planet covered almost entirely by ocean, a young adventurer named Monkey D. Luffy sets out on a quest to find the legendary treasure of the infamous pirate captain Gol D. Roger and become the King of Pirates. To do this, he uses the power of a mysterious “devil fruit” which grants him the power to stretch and shape his body like rubber. On his adventures, Luffy acquires a crew of other young pirates who are willing to accompany him on his quest for glory and assist him in fighting rival crews and the tyrannical World Government.
Who is making the One Piece adaptation?
The project is being produced by Tomorrowland Studios, the same studio that produced the recent live-action Netflix reboot of Cowboy Bebop. Let’s hope they do better the second time around. Based on what little we’ve seen from the One Piece live-action adaptation, it seems like they might! Steven Maeda will be the showrunner for One Piece. Maeda is an industry veteran, having been involved with titles like T, Lost, Lie to Me, Helix, and Day Break. Marc Jobst is expected to direct the first episode of One Piece. Like Maeda, Jobst has also had quite a career and has directed episodes of The Punisher and The Witcher.
Most of the filming is taking place in South Africa at Cape Town Film Studios, which has produced three pirate shows so far and has plenty of space for seafaring activities. I mean, just look at this pirate ship that might be appearing in One Piece! Honestly, it’s pretty sick.
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Who’s gonna be in the One Piece live-action adaptation?
A whole slew of handsome youths are set to star as Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates!
The live-action remake will star Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy. Honestly, he’s perfect for it. Has the big, charming smile and everything. Godoy played Bruno in Netflix’s Who Killed Sara? and Amadeo ‘El Gato’ in La querida del Centauro.
The three-sword-wielding samurai Roronoa Zoro will be played by Mackenyu, who is also starring as Seiya in the live-action adaptation of Knights of the Zodiac. Roronoa Zoro doesn’t really give a honk about treasure, but he does know that there are going to be a lot of people fighting over that treasure. For the guy who wants to be the best sword fighter in the world, it’s the perfect way to *ahem* sharpen his skills.
The Straw Hat Pirates’ cowardly comic relief sniper Usopp will be portrayed by Jacob Gibson, who played Atiba Jackson on The Resident and AJ Delajae on Greenleaf. Usopp served as a pirate captain himself in his youth and has big dreams of carrying on the tradition in the footsteps of his famous sea warrior father.
The crew’s chief navigator “Cat Burglar” Nami will be played by Emily Rudd, who played Ella Hopkins in The Romanoffs and Cindy in Fear Street: 1978. While Navi is both cartographically and meteorologically literate, her passion isn’t navigation, it’s loot. The maps and winds just help her find it.
Sanji, the ship’s all-star chef and one of their top fighters will be played by Taz Skylar of Villain and Boiling Point. Sanji was actually once a prince of the Germa Kingdom before he disowned his family twice in a row. He’s in the game to discover the All Blue, which is said to be a legendary chef’s paradise. I’m sure it’s on the way to the One Piece?
The kind-hearted Marine Koby is played by Morgan Davies, whose credits include The End and The Tree. Normally the Marines and the pirates are bitter enemies, but Koby is super chill. He and Luffy are actual friends! Maybe he realizes that the pirates and marines are both two sides of the same doubloon.
The series’ first antagonist, “Iron Mace” Alvida, is being played by Ilia Isorelýs Paulin, who has appeared as Rosa in Queenpins and Lila in The Sex Lives of College Girls. Why is she called “Iron Mace”? No reason, she just pulverizes people with a spiked club that’s nearly the size of her body. Luffy is gonna have his rubbery hands full with this one.
Finally, resident vampire cool guy swordsman Dracule Mihawk will be played by Steven John Ward, who previously appeared in Queen Sono and Vagrant Queen. Mihawk is the “Strongest Swordsman in the World.” How strong is that? He beat the three-sword-wielding Zoro with a blade the size of his pinky finger. It was embarrassing.
As for the rest of the cast, there’s a hell of a lot of them. Remember when I said this show is over 1000 episodes long? That means an equal number of characters.
Is there a trailer for the live-action One Piece series?
UPDATE: Netflix shared a new extended trailer for the series at San Diego Comic-Con! Let’s take a look!
Hell yes, there is! The first teaser trailer for One Piece dropped at Netflix’s TUDUM event. We also get a release date for the series, which drops on August 31, 2023.
(featured image: Netflix)
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