We’re still anxiously waiting for an update on the live-action adaptation of One Piece that is heading to Netflix. Since the poster reveals in January, the project has been silent but that isn’t too uncommon in how Netflix promotes most of its projects. So, we only have a tease of the main cast’s costumes from behind. The biggest rumor, however, that followed was a hint at a late August release on the streaming platform for One Piece that still hasn’t been confirmed.
Interestingly enough, a new article from the South African newspaper, The Saturday Star, features an interview with Nojiko actress Chioma Antoinette Umeala. As shared by the actress on her personal Instagram account, the article seemingly adds to the fact that the series might be getting an August release with the following statement.
She also appears as Nojiko in One Piece, a live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga story, to be released on Netflix in August.
Keep in mind, this is still not an official confirmation that the series will release in August. Netflix has yet to release any specific time and they commonly won’t do so until around two months before a series’ release. There’s a good chance that they simply took the recent rumor as confirmed and added it to the article. It’s not the first time something like this has happened but there’s always a chance some information was accidentally shared in the process. So, we’ll just have to wait for that official confirmation and if they really release it in August, we might find out in June.
We’re still anxiously awaiting any news on when we can finally see Matt Owens and Steven Maeda‘s attempt at bringing Eiiichiro Oda‘s iconic One Piece series into live-action. The passionate team behind the project makes this an anime adaptation that should not be missed out on with the potential to break the ongoing curse of adopting the medium.
Even though we haven’t even seen the first season, there are already some talks about who else could take on an iconic role further down the line. One of the biggest fan castings was of long-time One Piece fan Jamie Lee Curtis getting a chance to play Dr. Kureha. Even her daughter, Ruby Guest, said she’d be interested as Chopper is her favorite Straw Hat and now it seems the recent Oscar winner isn’t wasting any time to get cast.
Curtis took to her personal Twitter account to seemingly start campaigning for the role with the hashtag #CurtisforKureha. She even added an image of the character with her face on it, which highlights just how great this potential casting would be for the series, and an opportunity to have an Oscar winner of all people join this high-profile Netflix series.
While the well has been dry since the initial posters dropped for Netflix’s live-action One Piece series, there have been some small details here and there keeping eager fans afloat. The upcoming adaptation will take the beloved manga of the same name and bring it into a completely new format. While the anime has been running for over 1,000 episodes, there’s a lot of potentials to explore the vast world of One Piece in live-action.
Now, a new casting has come to light that might highlight that showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are already looking toward the future. As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan, actor Rebaone Ben Kgosimore has shared on his CV that he’s played the role of Mr. 7 in Netflix’s One Piece.
— ONE PIECE NETFLIX FAN (@OP_Netflix_Fan) March 17, 2023
At first, the name might seem unassuming especially as he wasn’t actually featured in the original East Blue run. Yet, he was mentioned in the story during Whiskey Peak, as it was unveiled that Mr. 7 was sent to recruit Mackenyu‘s Roronoa Zoro for thee organization known as Baroque Works. His inclusion not only means we’ll finally get to see how that interaction ended between him and Zoro but also be the first hint at what’s to come beyond the East Blue.
Going by a recent listing on the Writers Guild of America West, they might already be preparing for a potential second season renewal, which would very likely build upon this brief introduction. Going by the original manga, it only makes sense that the East Blue ends with the first season. One of the first threats they face on the Grand Line is the organization known as Baroque Works which has close ties to the events unfolding on Alabasta.
It looks like a member of the Arlong Pirates has been uncovered for Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. While we know that McKinley Belcher will play the big bad Arlong for some time now, we haven’t heard any news on the various members that’ll make up his group of evil Fishmen.
His pirate crew that are making their mark on the East Blue and ruling the innocent Conomi Islands with an iron fist consisting of a small group of Fish-men from the Grand Line. While there are quite a few additional members, the main opponents the Straw Hats face are Kuroobi, Chew, and Hatchan.
As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan, Warrior, and Tomb Raider actor Jandre’ Le Roux has shared in his CV that he’s taking on the role of Kuroobi. Not just that, but he also offers some insight into what we can expect from his role. He includes sword-fighting choreography for the Fish-Man Karate specialist, and highlights “fending off sword strikes and kicks” which alludes to Sanji.
We also get another hint that the Fish-Man is going to be brought to life practically in the Netflix series. While they may still use CG to touch up some elements, he highlights that he spent his time working on One Piece, or Project Panda, “in full upper body prosthetics,” which likely made combat scenes even trickier. So, it’ll be interesting just how far they lean into the designs from the manga. Here’s hoping we get Arlong’s iconic saw-shaped nose.
2023 started off strong for those looking forward to the new Netflix adaptation of One Piece. Not only did we get a first poster for the live-action series confirming a 2023 release, but a look at the entire Straw Hat crew swiftly followed it. Among them was our first look at what Mackenyu will look like as the iconic swordsman. With a rumored release date in August, news died down quite a bit on the series, at least until now.
A new low-res image has found its way online via @OP_Netflix_Fan, which seemingly gives us our first tease of what Mackenyu’s Zoro looks like pulling off the three-sword style. While the image is exceptionally blurry, one can make out that it’s someone wearing a bandana with a sword in his mouth. While it’s not definite, there’s only one character that can pull off that kind of look.
It’s unclear if this is an actual shot that’ll be used in the series or just something they were testing out. What is interesting is that he is seemingly holding one of the swords facing downwards, which is quite different from how he fights in the original anime. Though, it may be a way to give him more flexibility nd the action sequences will be quite a bit different in the live-action adaptation from his usual one-shots in the manga.
Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a BTS image of the Three-Sword Style, as one of the earliest leaks ahead of production was an image of either Mackenyu or a stunt person practicing with this technique. There he’s holding the sword different, which may mean we’ll get quite a variety of fighting styles in the series. Here’s hoping our first official look isn’t too far away.
One Piece showrunner Matt Owens‘ WGA page has an interesting addition that states he’s acting as Executive Producer on One Piece with a “Season Count” of two. He’s only mentioned as a showrunner for one season, but the addition of a second season for his role as Executive Producer is quite a curious addition, especially as he’s not the only one to have this season count.
The only oddity is the time window of 2022 to 2024 not matching with the showrunner designation of 2023 to 2024. Comparing it to co-showrunner Steven Maeda, the time window is given from 2022 to 2023. So, it’s odd that the production year is missing as when compared to other writers it normally is included in the timeframe. It should also be noted that Maeda does not have a second season mentioned on his WGA writer’s page as of now.
Now, what makes this so interesting is that Owens isn’t the only writer from the first season with a second-season count included. Ian Stokes, who wrote the second and seventh episodes, also has a season count of two for his role as co-Executive Producer. Fellow Episode 7 writers Lindsay Gelfand and Allison Weintraub also have two seasons included for One Piece with their shared title of Executive Story Editor.
The reason this is worth noting is that unlike IMDb not anyone can just sign up and add information to the WGA directory. As pointed out by the site, this is either verified independently by the WGAW as well as the WGAE (Writer’s Guild of America East), or information uploaded by the writers themselves. Not just anyone can make an account and upload information, which adds a little something to this inclusion but still is not a full confirmation. There’s a chance that is added accidentally or just in preparation for a potential second season if given the renewal, as they may have started at least mapping out the Alabasta Saga, which would be the focus in a second season after the East Blue.
To also contrast it, Wednesday has officially been renewed and that is something the WGA has added directly to the main site of the show with a production window of 2023 to 2024 (very likely just a temporary addition as we have no official production timeline). We don’t know if they’ve already worked on the scripts for a second season ahead of time, but curiously staff writer April G. Blair, for example, does not have a writing credit for the second season while Executive Producer and co-writer Kayla S. Alpert does.
So, it’s unclear if Blair may have returned for the second season’s writing room or generally moved on to a different project. There’s a good chance that these additions are mainly for producing credits and showcasing that work on the second season’s overarching plotlines may be worked on rather than singular scripts per episode. We still don’t have the credit for One Piece‘s fourth episode even though most have been uploaded in January.
Another comparison to highlight how WGA works is that Lauren S. Hissrich, the showrunner for The Witcher, is listed for a season count of four, which has been confirmed and they haven’t even released the third season yet. At the moment, it is still eyeing a Summer 2023 release, which will mark the final appearance of Henry Cavill in the iconic role of Gerald of Rivia but would match with them starting work on the scripts for the next season ahead of its release.
If there ever was a show that had a good chance to pull in a big viewership for a second season, it is One Piece. We’ve seen more of this project than even the other two major players rumored to release this year, the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Three-Body Problem. It doesn’t mean anything definite but if they are starting to map out a second season, they can jump into production as soon as they can once a renewal is given to avoid an issue like Stranger Things having way too long breaks between seasons. Maybe it’s a little hopeful but the potential is there.
Source: ScreenRant, The Wrap, WGA Registry, WGA (One Piece), WGA (Matt Owens), WGA (Steven Maeda), WGA (Ian Stokes), WGA (Lindsay Gelfand), WGA (Allison Weintraub), WGA (Wednesday), WGA (April G. Blair), WGA (Kayla S. Alpert), WGA (Lauren S. Hissrich)
Every day, it feels like we get one piece at a time of the puzzle which is Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. After dropping a first look with a poster just a few weeks ago, the project has once again gone silent. It is, admittedly, more than you’d get with other shows from the streaming service this long before even a release date is set, but it does seem like we continue to grasp for straws on whatever information we get.
Luckily, it seems the project is slowly moving towards the finishing line, as the WGA, short for Writers Guild of America West, has been updated for the upcoming series. It includes seven episodes so far but lists up to eight episodes for the season. This isn’t the first time it gave us a full writers list, as the same happened for Moon Knight last year in February ahead of its release. Going by the WGA entries, it seems that the writers for the upcoming episodes are the following:
Episode 1 – Teleplay by Matt Owens & Steven Maeda
Episode 2 – Written by: Ian Stokes
Episode 3 – Written by: Matt Owens & Damani Johnson
Episode 4 – Written by: TBA
Episode 5 – Written by: Laura Jacqmin
Episode 6 – Written by Steven Maeda and Diego Gutierrez
Episode 7 – Written by: Tiffany Greshler & Ian Stokes and Allison Weintraub & Lindsay Gelfand
Episode 8 – Written by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda
Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are the showrunners of this live-action adaptation. It’s interesting they write the finale and pilot, which is called a “teleplay” in comparison to the rest. They also are involved separately again in the third and sixth episodes. Owens has quite the track record of having worked Luke Cage as a writer and was even a story editor on Agents of SHIELD and The Defenders.
Maeda has quite a history with series like The X-Files, Lost, Lie to Me, CSI: Miami, and more. They are joined by Ian Stokes, who also was a writer on Luke Cage, Teen Wolf, Warehouse 13, and Iron Fist. Episode 3 writer Damani Johnson worked on Salvation, Major Crimes, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and more.
Laura Jacqmin has some gaming experience with Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Game Series, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier but also worked on We Broke Up and was a story editor on Grace and Frankie. Diego Gutierrez worked on series like V, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, The Shield, Warehouse 13, and more.
Episode 7 had quite a few writers working on it including Helix and Underground writer Tiffany Greshler. Allison Weintraub has worked on series like The Umbrella Academy, Prince of Peoria, and Supergirl. Last but not least, Lindsay Gelfand is also a fellow The Umbrella Academy and Supergirl alum, but also worked on Manhattan Love Story.
So, the series has quite a variety of talented writers on board to help bring the Straw Hats’ adventures to live-action. It’s interesting that the fourth episode is seemingly still missing, but that may get updated at a later point.
After a long wait, we finally got our first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. While the posters only give us a glimpse, it means we’re about to see more from it as the months go by for this adaptation. People are still nervous, as with any live-action adaptation of a popular manga or anime, but there is something promising about this offering, especially how enthusiastic the already existing fanbase is.
@OP_Netflix_Fan and@OPLAfandomhave seemingly uncovered a variety of set props that hint at different locations that’ll be featured in the live-action adaptation. Among these various props, the one that stands out the most is the Tangerine signs for Nami’s hometown, Coco Village. In the anime, it was known as Cocoyasi Village but shortened to Coco Village in the VIZ manga adaptation and the infamous 4Kids dub. It may still be named Cocoyasi but shortened for the adaptation.
The next are two signs that are supposedly from Loguetown. One is a caffé and a pizzeria. The interesting thing here is the name “Dei Nuovi Inizi” which translates to “Of New Beginnings” fitting for Loguetown which acts as a prologue and epilogue to those journeying from and to the Grand Line.
Possible signs for Loguetown shops in One Piece Live Action –– New Beginnings Café and Pizza in the Square pic.twitter.com/TgucUwci1Y
Last but not least, we have a familiar location already teased during last year’s Geeked Week. We saw the neon sign for Party’s Bar situated in Windmill Village, the hometown of Luffy. It’s run by Makino and plays a big part in Luffy’s origin story. While the image of the Cocktail menu doesn’t reveal anything, if you look closely you’ll see they are using the Berry symbol, which confirms it’ll keep the in-universe currency for the adaptation. It’s a bit hard to make out but you can see the top of the same symbol used in the manga.
It’s definitely exciting to get a little glimpse behind the scenes as we continue the build-up toward the official release. We’ll have to see how long the wait will be until we get another glimpse at the project, but you can explore our feature on when the promotion might truly kick off by clicking here.
A new rumor has hit the web, hinting that Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece may not release until August 31st. The news dropped just a week after we got our first official look at the adaptation, which gave us a simple tease of the main cast from behind; a perfect way to hint at what’s to come. The biggest confirmation from the first look was also the fact that we’ll be getting the series at some point in 2023. Now, with a new rumor hinting at when it might release, maybe some old releases may help point to when we can expect more news throughout the years.
Our first actual footage of the show arrived on October 19th with the “Lost Session” teaser. In retrospect, it was a great little teaser that was closer to what Cowboy Bebop feels like than the actual show itself, which had a much slower pace in comparison. Ironically, we still wouldn’t get an actual trailer of the show until October 27th; only 21 days before the actual release.
Given we got the first poster before even a cast image, it seems like One Piece is getting more attention than the previous Tomorrow Studio collaboration. Given it was only truly promoted for less than three full months, it almost seems like Netflix was desperately trying to hide the show and it never got a chance ahead of its cancelation on December 9th.
The Sandman’s Drag-Out
So, there’s another major release and adaptation that may offer a hint at how we can expect the release window for the future. Taking a glance at The Sandman, however, it seems like some marketing ploys can even drag out a bit longer than one might expect. We got our first look at the adaptation back in 2021; September 25th to be exact with a variety of character posters and first footage as part of Geeked Week of that year.
Yet, we wouldn’t really get anything else out of the series until a new key art poster was released on June 6th that confirmed a release on August 5th. We also got a few new character posters. So, we got the exact release date around two months ahead of its premiere with the trailer following on July 24th. So, Netflix once again held onto that full look at the series until the last possible second even as we already got footage the year before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ClbRPRDXU
Netflix really likes to keep a more intense promotional window for a series shortly before its release. There are some similarities with One Piece given that we got some behind-the-scenes footage for the new series during Geeked Week on June 6th, 2022. So, the early showcase isn’t too different but this time we had to wait half a year before we got any key art for the adaptation.
Wednesday’s Balance
The Sandman isn’t the only major 2022 release, as we also have the massive success of The Addam’s Family remake focusing on Wednesday Addams. Ironically, Wednesday has the perfect balance between the two with a shorter promotional window but adding quite a few smaller snippets to promote the adaptation before we get our first actual teaser or trailer.
Back in May of this year, we got a poster for the series hinting at a Fall 2022 release that gave us a tease of what to expect with a caricature of Wednesday Addams. That was swiftly followed by a teaser on June 1st giving us our first look at Thing before Jenna Ortega was unveiled just five days later. It was our first look at the series and was given quite the highlight during Geeked Week with a still image and small teaser video. We would have to wait until August 17th before we got a teaser trailer.
The fact that we had a trailer without a specific release window is quite curious as we wouldn’t find out its release date was November 23rd with the second poster that was released on September 23rd. So, the two-month window is still there for the release date but this time we saw footage around three months before. This time around we didn’t get any character posters until November 2nd though, as the focus was mainly on Wednesday; it’s titled after her.
It’s no surprise that the series would go on to break viewership records, as the series had the most stretched-out advertising campaign with a steady build-up towards its release and giving viewers a bit more time to build up interest in its release. It’s curious how that release date confirmation is always around two months ahead of its release and something that Cowboy Bebop surprisingly unveiled the earliest out of all projects with the shortest marketing campaign.
One Piece’s Potential
So, we have very distinct pieces of a puzzle to potentially connect when we may expect a release for One Piece. As it stands now, we only know that the series will “set sail in 2023” and we got not one but two key visuals for the live-action adaptation. There is one similarity with The Sandman stretch-out as we got a first tease all the way back in 2022 just as they were filming the project, but it wasn’t as extensive.
Of course, any of this is just speculation based on behavior partners on how Netflix promotes its series. There’s a lot of optimism if a series is given time to breathe ahead of its release, as rushing it out and not giving anyone time to really take it all in like with Cowboy Bebop just dooms a project from the get-go. It’s why many movie trailers drop six months in advance and we don’t hear anything until we’re actually closing in on the release date.
The best comparison is likely Wednesday with the teaser poster releasing early and no confirmed release date. While it would’ve been nice to get a “Summer 2023” inclusion, it does seem that Netflix wants to keep some flexibility on when exactly it’ll drop but with the rumored release date, we may have some potential wiggle room on when we could expect something.
There is one major anchor that gives us some orientation on when we can expect a major drop for the series and that is Geeked Week. It has taken place at the beginning of June 2021 and 2022. So, it may be safe to assume it’ll once again take place around that same time window and Netflix will definitely want to promote one of its biggest releases during that event.
Wednesday had the benefit of having its first poster drop around the time Geeked Week took place, so for that time window we’d have to consider the time window is a bit longer but not as out-there as The Sandman was. Still, it makes it challenging to figure out just how much they’ll plan around that event and try to keep everything for the “big reveal” during Geeked Week or not.
Potential Marketing Roadmap
So, after all that deduction: here’s a potential timeline based on previous projects on when we might expect teases to promote the One Piece series:
January – Teaser Poster & Key Art
April/May – New Poster, First Full Look at Cast
June – First Trailer and Release Date (Geeked Week 2023)
July – Second Trailer, Character Posters
August – Release on Netflix
It’s a very rough estimate but it’s hard to say if we’ll see anything before May, even if it would be great to drip-feed at least something. Still, an optimistic look would be to see a photo of the cast in their outfits around April, as they start promoting the series through a variety of interviews with showrunners, and the cast. Perhaps we’ll even have a statement from Eiichiro Oda; whose support may push this series into the spotlight it needs. The time window would also match the two-month wait between Geeked week and the first trailer. Still, it doesn’t seem likely we’ll get any real information for a few months given there’s no time window included with the posters.
Where the optimism comes in is the expectation to really see the ball rolling as of May with something new hitting every month if they truly are going for that 31st August release date. A series based on pirates is perfect for a summer release and with their two-month rule, we’ll likely see a trailer around June. What is in June? Geeked Week, of course, if they remain consistent with the last few years. So, we may get a poster either shortly before to promote its appearance or worst case alongside the trailer.
If we get any tease for One Piece in June, we can safely bet on an August release. Netflix really likes building around that event and it would seem fitting if they get their own segment and plenty of promotion. Wednesday‘s success may also play a factor in their hopes to replicate that same momentum to break more records with a series that is based on the most popular manga.
Of course, this isn’t something one should take as a definite time window, as anything related to the project could shift any of these predictions. They are mainly based on what has come in the past and how Netflix seemingly operates with its biggest releases. One thing is certain: this isn’t another rushed drop like with Cowboy Bebop and Netflix may be wanting to make this as big as they can to ensure its success to establish the next Stranger Things level series.
We’ve only recently got our first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece and while the Internet is trying to figure out its thoughts on the project, we may already have our first hint at a potential release date. Netflix tends to focus on advertising its projects through short bursts, normally around two months ahead of a release like with Cowboy Bebop. But, it seems they are playing the long game this time around.
According to What’s on Netflix, they heard we may see the release of One Piece at some point in August. Surprisingly, they even shared a rather specific release date as the series is eyeing a potential drop on August 31st, 2023. That would mark a Thursday, which isn’t uncommon for a big Netflix series though Wednesday released, fittingly, on November 23rd, a Wednesday. It also is exciting to know that they are promoting a show almost seven months, as we’ve heard more about this series than even the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series which started production ahead of this adaptation.
The series sees original mangaka Eiichiro Oda as an executive producer with co-showrunners Steven Maeda and Matt Owens spearheading the project. If the release date is true, we might have to wait a bit until we find out as they commonly don’t confirm any specific release windows until shortly before. Plus, anything can change between now and then so we shouldn’t take it as a definite. Still, a late August release seems like a fitting way to end the summer season with a pirate adventure like no other.
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