Anime fans, here's something that will cheer you up! Netflix is producing a live adaptation of the hit anime show, One Piece. If you're well familiar with the Straw Hat Pirates, you'll most likely recognize the iconic anime. Apart from being a popular anime show, it is among the longest-running series with an astounding 1,000 episodes.
So when will the live adaptation of the anime air on Netflix? Here's what we know about the show right now.
One Piece Live-Action Release Date
The live adaptation was first announced in January 2020. It is being produced by Tomorrow Studios, the same company behind Cowboy Bebop adaptation that has since been canceled.
At the time of its announcement, the show creator, Eiichiro Oda, released a graphic saying: "I know I announced the production of this back in 2017, but these things take time! Preparations have been slowly progressing behind the scenes, and it seems that I can finally make the big announcement: NETFLIX, the world's leading streaming entertainment service, will be lending us their tremendous production support! This is so encouraging!! How far will the story progress over the 10 episodes of season 1? Who will be cast?! Please be patient a little longer and stay tuned!!"
It's been a long time since the show was first announced. And if it weren't for the pandemic, production should have started in the Summer of 2020. Ever since then, there has been multiple delays and several postponed filming start dates.
One Piece showrunner, Steven Maeda, shared that the original plan was to get production rolling in 2021: “We have basically all 10 scripts written. We will start casting when we go back. My suspicion is June 1, but we will start doing our casting. We have a lot of names that we’re talking about, and we should be in production in September [2021]. We have been working very closely with Sensei Oda. So, we’re going to get started, and this one is very big. I mean, Snowpiercer was a big production; this is even bigger.”
In September 2021, the title of the first episode was officially revealed by Netflix through a snapshot of the script. One Piece Episode 1 is entitled Romance Dawn and is written by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda. This was also the time when reports of the crew preparing to start filming first emerged. A month later, Maeda shared on Instagram that he had arrived in Cape Town, where they are filming the show.
Production eventually started in February 2022. In May 2022, director Marc Jobst announced that they had finished filming filming the first two episodes. The director tweeted: “Farewell South Africa. Land of sunshine, hard work, little creatures that visit each day, and mountains that every day took my breath away. Thank you to the incredibly talented crew that help bring this show to life.
Now to the next stage…the cut”
At the this year's Geeked Week livestream event, Netflix finally gave One Piece fans a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the live-action adaptation taking place at Cape Town Film Studios.
The show was expected to wrap up filming on July 10th. But as far as One Piece release date on Netflix, there's still no announcement. It's possible that the show could get released in the later part of 2022 or early 2023.
One Piece Live-Action Episodes
When Eiichiro Oda first announced that Netflix is making a One Piece live-action show, he revealed that there will be a total of 10 episodes. This was later confirmed by Madea saying that there are "10 scripts."
Some time ago, there were rumors that the first season was being reduced to just eight episodes. This was later supported by a casting sheet posted by Murphy's Multiverse. But so far, there was no confirmation on this report. More importantly, One eSports published a listing of the 10 episodes along with their episode titles. These are the titles for One Piece Season 1:
- Episode 1: Romance Dawn
- Episode 2:
- Episode 3: Captain of 8,000 Men
- Episode 4: Cooks of the Sea
- Episode 5: A Frog Into the Well
- Episode 6: Arms and Sharks
- Episode 7: Tangerine Grove
- Episode 8: Crewmates
- Episode 9: The End and the Beginning
- Episode 10: Grand Line
One Piece Live-Action Story
One Piece first made its debut in an issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump on July 22, 1997. Since then, the manga has published 969 chapters and 95 volumes; a number that continues to grow to this day! The franchise has generated over $21 billion in revenue for its manga series, films, video games, and other official merchandise.
To this date, the One Piece TV show has a total number of 1,027 episodes (and counting). It's unclear which of these episodes will be adapted by the live-action show on Netflix. But basically, the show is an alternate version of the planet where we are in the "Golden Age of Pirates."
The seas are ruled by pirates who are in search of the mythical treasure (aka 'One Piece') left behind by Gol D. Roger, the greatest pirate of them all. Years after his death, Monkey D. Luffy has declared himself as Pirate King and has started his own crew to look for One Piece.
The catch is that Luffy has enormous strength and agility. This comes from a devil fruit that he ate when he was younger. And throughout the show, we see Luffy in search of One Piece so he can be the next Pirate King.
One Piece Live-Action Cast
Prior to announcing the official One Piece live-action cast, the casting grid revealed the characters as well as their age ranges. They looked for the following to fit the characters:
- Luffy - Age 17, Hispanic/Latino
- Zoro - Age 18, Asian
- Nami - Age 19, Any ethnicity
- Usopp - Age 17, Black
- Sanji - Age 19, Any ethnicity
- Garp - Age 55-79, Any ethnicity
- Koby - Age 16, Any ethnicity
Then in November 2021, the first set of castings for the live adaptation was released:
- Iñaki Godoy (as Monkey D. Luffy)
- Mackenyu (as Roronoa Zoro)
- Jacob Gibson (as Usopp)
- Emily Rudd (as Nami)
- Taz Skylar (as Sanji)
In an interview with Vanity Teen, Godoy shared: “To portray a character like Luffy is one of the greatest honors of my career and I know that this experience will stay with me forever regardless of the outcome.”
A few months later, the cast was expanded with the addition of 6 new members:
- Morgan Davies (as Koby)
- Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (as Alvida)
- Aidan Scott (as Helmeppo)
- Jeff Ward (as Buggy)
- McKinley Belcher III (as Arlong)
- Vincent Regan (as Garp)
- Peter Gadiot (as Shanks)
- Sven Ruygrok (as Cabaji)
- Len-Barry Simons (as Chu)
- Richard Wright-Firth (as Petty Officer Ukkari)
- Jean Henry (as Fullbody)
- Alexander Maniatis (as Klahadore
- Steven Ward (as Mihawk)
- Craig Fairbrass (as Chef Zeff)
- Langley Kirkwood (as Captain Morgan)
- Celeste Loots (as Kaya)
- Chioma Umeala (as Nojiko)
Is There a One Piece Live-Action Trailer?
As of this writing, there is no One Piece live-action trailer available online yet. The crew are still filming the first season of the show in South Africa. For the meantime, you can take a look at this set sneak peek that Netflix has released during its Geeked Week.
The video shows Iñaki Godoy showing us around the ship that they specifically built for the show. You can watch it here:
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