One Piece is one of the world’s most popular animes and is the best-selling manga series of all time. It’s even the best-selling comic book internationally with a higher-grossing media franchise than Superman. And now Netflix has made it into a live-action anime. As we know, Netflix has a capable cast lined up and has the series creator Eiichiro Oda executive producing. Hopefully, it will be a show that sticks to the real tenets of what makes One Piece good and such a mainstay in pop culture in the first place.
One Piece has maintained sincere popularity in the United States since it debuted. And it has had an even greater following in Japan, where the manga originated. The series has over 1,000 episodes and a fan base that refuses to quit. It follows the story of Monkey D. Luffy on his journey to become King of the Pirates and find the famous One Piece treasure. The series is stuffed to the gills with strange characters with incredible superpowers. The powers were granted to them upon eating the mysterious Devil Fruit. But eating those fruits comes at the cost of losing your ability to swim, which, in a world of oceans and pirate ships, is a high cost indeed. But now, the brilliant series that was once new in the US is getting its own live-action TV series on Netflix. Here's everything we know so far!
Updated on August 25, 2023, by Evan Lewis: In preparation for One Piece's Netflix premiere, this article has been updated with additional content and new information.
One Piece: The Plot
The live-action One Piece will follow the East Blue Saga and will follow Luffy as he unites the Straw Hat Pirates for the first time. Luffy begins as a boy with a dream of getting a crew together and finding the One Piece treasure that will make him the Pirate King. The treasure once belonged to Gol D. Roger, the greatest pirate who ever lived, but now One Piece has fallen into legend years after the pirate's death. Soon, Luffy and company will come to realize that they are not the only ones scouring the world for this treasure; the Navy is following them, and there is a rival crew. The Straw Hat Pirates will have to work as a team in order to make sure they are able to achieve their goals.
One Piece: The Cast & Crew
Steven Maeda and Matt Owens will be co-writing, co-showrunning, and executive producing. Both have impressive resumes under their belt, as Maeda has worked on shows like Lost, and CSI: Miami, and written for The X-Files. While Owens hasn't produced before, he’s worked as a writer on many Marvel series like Luke Cage, Agents of Shield, and The Defenders.
Marc Jobst (Daredevil, The Punisher, The Witcher) will direct the first two episodes: "Romance Dawn" and "The Man in the Straw Hat". Emma Dawn (Doctor Who) directs episodes three and four: "Tell No Tales" and "The Pirates are Coming". Tim Southam (The Walking Dead, Lost in Space), is helming episodes five and six: "Eat at Baratie!" and "The Chef and the Chore Boy". Josef Wladyka (Catch the Fair One) will direct the last two episodes: "The Girl with the Sawfish Tattoo", and "Worst in the East". Season 1 will consist of eight episodes.
Netflix is coordinating the production with Tomorrow Studios with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements executive producing. Adelstein worked on Teen Wolf, and Clements helped produce the Snowpiercer TV series. Both were involved in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop which was canceled after one season. The list of executive producers will also include Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, who will hopefully help the showrunners maintain integrity with their adaptation, which is often something to worry about with live-action animes.
Most of the cast has already been announced, with the straw hat crew being led by Iñaki Godoy. Godoy has worked on many Spanish-language TV shows like La querida del Centauro and Who Killed Sara?. Mackenyu will play Roronoa Zoro. The son of legendary actor/director Sonny Chiba, Mackenyu will undoubtedly already have all the skills needed to be an accomplished swordsman. He’s acted in projects such as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamon is Unbreakable - Chapter 1, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and the first part of the live-action adaptation of Ruroni Kenshin: The Final.
Nami will be played by Emily Rudd, who has acted in music videos and short films (and is unrelated to Paul Rudd). And Peter Gadiot, star of Queen of the South and Yellowjackets, will play Shanks, the Captain of the Red-Haired Pirates. The show will also feature Taz Skylar as Sanji, Jacob Gibson as Usopp, and Stevel Marc as Yasopp. Jeff Ward of Agents of Shield will play the role of Buggy, and Evil Dead Rise star Morgan Davies will play Koby.
Other actors and character roles include Langley Kirkwood as Captain Morgan; Celeste Loots as Kaya; Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore; Craig Fairbrass as Cheff Zeff; Steven John Ward as Dracule; Chioma Umeala as Nojiko; Amber Hossask as Moodie; Lindsay Reardon as Mayor Boodle; Sven Ruygrok as Cabaji; Richard Wright-Firth as Ukkari; Chante Granger as Banchina; Kamdynn Gary as Rika; Acton Burnell as Nezumi; Grant Ross as Genzo; Jandre le Roux as Kuroobi, Tamer Burjaq as Higuma; Bianca Oosthuizen as Sham; South African actor Ntlanhu Morgan Kutu as Lucky Roux; Len-Barry Simons as Chu; Vincent Regan as Garp; McKinley Belcher III as Arlong, Ilia Isorelys Paulino as Alvida; Aidan Scott as Helmeppo; and Jean Henry as Fullbody.
One Piece: Production & Release Date
Despite the ridiculous things that happen in One Piece, including the main character essentially being made out of rubber, it seems the showrunners have chosen to go with practical sets. A photo and short video were leaked from the set displaying Alvida’s ship “Miss Love Duck” actually being constructed. It was easy to identify this particular vessel due to the giant duck head leading the bow. We also know that some of the filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa. Filming on the series wrapped on August 22, 202.
The series is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on August 31, 2023. There are eight total episodes in the show's first season, and they will be released simultaneously rather than on a weekly basis. A four-minute behind-the-scenes featurette has been released, prior to the August 31, 2023 premiere date, on Netflix's official YouTube channel:
Despite the public’s general distaste for live-action adaptations of animes, it seems the production team has pulled out all the stops to do this show justice. As they should, considering it’s one of the most popular animes of all time, and fans have a great respect for the series. If they don’t get this right, they could be playing with fire.