Netflix’s ‘One Piece’: Everything we know about the live-action remake
(Credit: One Piece)

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Netflix's 'One Piece': Everything we know about the live-action remake

Eiichiro Oda’s manga One Piece has been a sensation in Japan and has prevailed as one of the most popular and iconic manga and anime series ever created. Oda published the first volume in 1997, following which the anime aired for the first time in 1999. The series has a very loyal fanbase even today. With 14 animation films to its name and 100 manga volumes and well over 1000 episodes, One Piece has made history as one of the longest-running franchises in the history of manga and anime. 

Netflix keeps renewing their business model to tap new users. The demographic of anime users seems very lucrative and after their recent success with adaptations like Castlevania, DOTA and The Witcher, Netflix wanted to jump in on the anime craze and created Cowboy Bebop in 2021. While the original anime was a massive hit and a revolutionary creative piece, the live-action was not very well-received and got cancelled by Netflix after just one season despite petitions from fans. 

However, the failure of Cowboy Bebop has seemingly not deterred Netflix which still believes that One Piece could help break its anime curse. In 2017, Tomorrow Studios announced plans of working on a live-action remake of One Piece which they have been working on relentlessly, ever since, with Netflix. 

As fans waited in bated anticipation for the arrival of Netflix’s One Piece live-action remake, here is everything we know so far about the same: 

Everything we know about the live-action remake ‘One Piece’

What is Netflix’s One Piece about?

One Piece revolves around the escapades of a young man named Monkey D. Luffy who gained inspiration from his childhood role model, the powerful and notorious pirate Red Haired Shanks. Following Shanks, he sets out on a daunting journey across the East Blue Sea to find the titular and legendary treasure to become the King of Pirates. 

Will Netflix’s One Piece remain faithful to the anime and manga? 

One Piece will be adapted from Eiichiro Oda’s 1999 shonen manga anime that had 1000 episodes and 99 manga volumes. However, the Netflix show will only have one season with ten episodes which will make it difficult for the remake to stay completely faithful to the adaptation. Perhaps, the showrunners will involve time skips to maintain coherence between various events and focus primarily on Luffy and his team of Straw Hat pirates instead of delving deeper into other plotlines. 

(Credit: One Piece)

How many episodes will Netflix’s One Piece have? 

While the runtime of each episode has not yet been revealed, Netflix’s One Piece remake has ordered a total of ten episodes. On Twitter, executive producer Steven Maeda revealed that the first episode will be titled “Romance Dawn”. 

Who are the new cast members on Netflix’s One Piece

Netflix announced the main cast members constituting the Straw Hat Pirates in November 2021. 

Mexican actor Inaki Godoy who is known for his work in Go, Youth!, Who Killed Sara and more, is set to star as the protagonist Luffy.

His formidable ragtag team of fellow Straw Hat Pirates will include Pacific Rim: Uprising’s Mackenyu as Zorro, the swordsman, Jacob Romero Gibson from Greenleaf as the sniper Usopp, Boiling Point’s Taz Skylar as the chef Sanji and Emily Rudd from Fear Street playing the role of Nami the navigator. 

Godoy and Mackenyu both took to Twitter to celebrate the same. 

On March 8th, 2022, Netflix announced the addition of some other cast members, namely Morgan Davies from The Evil Dead: Rise as Koby, Aidan Scott from Between the Devil as Marne officer Helmeppo, McKinley Belcher III from Ozark as Arlong the Saw, Troy’s Vincent Regan as Marine vice admiral Monkey D. Garp, Brand New Cherry Flavour’s Jeff Ward as Buggy the Star Clown and Ilia Isorelys Paulino from The Sex Lives of College Girls as Iron Mace Alvida, Luffy’s first-ever antagonist.  

The One Piece cast also added Peter Gadiot from Yellow Jackets as the legendary Shanks, the captain of the red-haired pirate group on March 28th, 2022. 

The YouTube channel of One Piece revealed the cast to fans on December 5th, 2021. They all donned custom shirts designed by Oda himself. 

When will Netflix release One Piece

Netflix has not announced the release date for the live-action remake but has already begun production, as confirmed by a Netflix Geeked Tweet that read: “One Piece is officially in production. The road for Luffy to become the Pirate King has just begun.”

Maeda, too, took to Twitter to post a picture of his chair from the sets that had his name and role embroidered on it. 

Who is directing Netflix’s One Piece

The series has not yet revealed the director’s name. Besides Maeda, the creator and author of the original manga series, Eiichiro Oda will serve as the executive producer. Oda posted a heartfelt note to his fans talking about the series production finally coming to fruition after years of eager anticipation. 

He talked about how it is “not easy when you’re working with people from different cultures” while assuring the fans about the show’s “steady progress” and a promise to “yield something special”. 

Talking about the cast selection, Oda said that they were chosen on the basis of their “face, the size of their mouths and hands, their aura, the way they carry themselves, their voice, their acting skills, their height, the balance amongst the Straw Hat Crew, etc”.

The show is being co-written by executive producers Steven Maeda and Matt Owens. They revealed in a joint statement that the cast and crew have “already begun working very hard to bring these characters to life. You will come to know and love them just as much as their manga counterparts”.

While Netflix will handle physical production and distribution, Tomorrow Studios will serve as a co-producer for the animation, CGI and other effects. Tomorrow Studios have recently collaborated with Netflix on Andre Nemec’s Cowboy Bebop, starring John Cho, Daniella Pineda, Mustafa Shakir etc.