One Piece Star Makes A Bold Claim About Their Involvement With The Live-Action Netflix Show

The live-action One Piece show on Netflix has possibly the best casting records for any live-action adaptation ever, and one very important member of that cast has made their confidence in that casting clear.

One Piece has been a chart-topping multimedia juggernaut for longer than a handful of its adult fans have been alive, and in that time, it has proven too cumbersome for a live-action adaptation. While each new story arc and volume made the task seem even more insurmountable, Netflix would eventually take a chance on a live-action adaptation for streaming. Despite earlier screw-ups with adapting other Japanese series, the production got it right, and One Piece hit the streamer running and managed to impress both newcomers to the franchise and fans of the source material. More recently, the show has been filling its ranks with seasoned stars ahead of its second season, which promises all sorts of new adventures, enemies, and story beats that all fans can enjoy.

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While Netflix’s One Piece season 2 already secured its most important endorsement from Oda himself, the show also has the confidence of one of its most important cast members, a fact that’s equally reassuring as the live-action show marches on in its adaptation of the long-running series. As reported by Popverse, Mackenyu was in attendance as a speaker at Comic-Con Brussels 2023 and answered questions during the Q&A segment. When queried about what other adaptations he’d like to take on going forward, the star gave a pretty confident and reassuring answer. “I’ve got to finish [Zoro] first,” Mackenyu insisted. “He’s too big. I gotta finish him. There’s like 50 more seasons to go. When I turn 70, I’ll retire playing Zoro.” While simple, this statement shows the star’s dedication to the project and his understanding of just how much work the source material would actually take to adapt.

While there are tons of events that fans can expect to take place in One Piece season two, many fans of the source material are already looking beyond that point and on to things further down the line. On that note, Mackenyu was also asked about how many episodes the showrunners had planned but maintained that he couldn’t say. However, he did confirm that his personal hope was that the show would run long enough to adapt the Dressrosa arc, a pivotal point in the narrative and the favorite of many fans of One Piece. While not expressly mentioned, getting to Dressrosa would also require the show to adapt the series’ monumental Marineford arc and 2-year time skip, amongst several other intense and intensely appealing parts of the massive One Piece story. While Dressrosa might just be a personal favorite, Mackenyu’s wish coming true would also grant the wishes of several fans along the way.

A large part of One Piece’s live-action success was built in part on the perfect casting choices, including Mackenyu’s appointment as Zoro. As such, keeping the stars behind the roles happy and willing to return is a major plus for the production, and that seems to be working in Mackenyu’s case. Fans would be greatly turned off by any replacements made to the cast, especially if it’s a member of the central Straw Hat crew. As much as it is possible with characters as stylized as Oda’s, that level of casting quality would be great to keep up for future additions to the cast, and the appointment of Lera Abova as Nico Robin suggests that the good times will keep on rolling. The production also has a major issue coming with Chopper, a pivotal member of the crew that will take a lot of effects to bring to life and becomes a near-constant fixture of the story moving forward. As for the rest of the already established crew, they all seem very happy to be involved and probably share Mackenyu’s sentiment about seeing it through.

There’s a lot to be excited about in the future, but fans also have a great treat coming in the form of season two. While it’s been rumored that Netflix’s One Piece season two will be shorter than expected, fans need not worry too much about that eventuality. Working off of speculation and comments from Vice Admiral Garp actor Vincent Regan, it seems likely that a reduced episode count would be done to end the season without encroaching into a new story arc. One potential eventuality would be ending season two right before the Alabaster arc begins in full swing, an undertaking that Regan predicts will require two seasons all on its own to finish properly.

Netflix’s live-action One Piece is available to stream on Netflix.

One Piece (Live-Action)

Release Date

August 31, 2023

Cast

Iñaki Godoy
, Mackenyu
, Emily Rudd
, Jacob Romero Gibson
, Taz Skylar

Seasons

1

Story By

Eiichiro Oda

Writers

Matt Owens
, Steven Maeda
, Tom Hyndman

Showrunner

Matt Owens

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Source: Popverse