We’re still anxiously awaiting Netflix’s major TUDUM event, which is just on the horizon. While we don’t know what exactly they might show in their first in-person hybrid event since the pandemic started, the official live-action One Piece account has been quite busy promoting the event adding more hope that we might finally get our first look at the adaptation. Luckily, it also gave us some new interviews that tease the adaptation.
In an interview with Sopitas, as translated by Twitter user @philazora, Mackenyu Arata shared what it was like working with Eiichiro Oda. It’s not every day that an adaptation of manga has its original creator this heavily involved but that doesn’t mean they still won’t have to make some changes to the original story, especially with multiple chapters being retold in just eight episodes.
Whatever Oda-sensei wants for the show is what the fans want. So I’m sure they’ll be happy. We only have 8 hours in the series. There’ll be changes, but they’re necessary. We’re very happy about that. He’s like our dad.
Mackenyu Arata
Arata highlights that these are “necessary” adding some intrigue on what exactly they may have changed and why. Some of the humor from the original may not have aged and a live-action adaptation can’t carry over every element from the original. Changes are a part of every adaptation and it’s great to know that Oda is so heavily involved that he also ensures it doesn’t stray too far from his vision. Here’s hoping a first look is almost here.
It’s been al ong road since Netflix’s live-action One piece series started filming. Hell, it#s been many more years since we first heard from Eiichiro Oda that they started working on the project back in 2017. After almost 5+ years, we may finally get our first look at Netflix’s current TUDUM event. Luckily, some managed to find their way unto the event area and shared some of the props that are being showcased.
The big reveal is our first full look at Monkey D. Luffy’s costume that Inaki Godoy wears in the live-action adaptation. We even get a good look at the shoes that Luffy will wear, which is, so far, the only real departure from his original adaptation. Funny enough, many feared it was quite a departure from his free-spirited approach, but they are seemingly just easy to slip in that would still keep that design alive.
He is also joined by the Marine outfit that leaked some time ago and was our first look at how truly close to the original adaptation this series is going to be. Though, it’s the various props that are definitely eye-catching.
We get a good look at Zoro’s iconic Wado Ichimonji and the two swords that play an integral part in his battle against Mihawk. Buggy’s flag seems quite similar to what we see in the manga and Usopp’s slingshot seems directly adapted from the original source material. The telescope seems to be something that might belong to Nami, but there might be more pieces that have yet to find their way online.
— One Piece Netflix Brasil (@OnePieceNxBr) June 15, 2023
There’s also a fun little addition for the event specifically, which is a little replica of the Going Merry as shared by @OnePieceNxBr. It’s not as detailed as the original and continues to add to the “he’s screaming” joke from fans, but it’s definitely great to see the effort put into this event to bring fans closer to these major new additions to the streaming service. It certainly looks like they are all-in with One Piece and we hope there’s a lot more to see.
Still hard to believe that we’re discussing a spinoff series from a successful Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Not just that, we’re getting more time with a character like Knuckles the Echidna, who was only just introduced in the latest movie of the franchise. The Paramount+ original has been busy filming and it looks like the Idris Elba-led project has unveiled five new cast members.
Variety has unveiled that the series has added not one but five new members to its cast. The biggest additions are the Back to the Future icon Christopher Lloyd, who has been busy with a variety of TV show appearances such as the last season of The Mandalorian. He’ll be joined by The Princess Bride’sCary Elwes, Grease’sStockard Channing, Rob Huebel of Bob’s Burgers fame, and Veep‘s Paul Scheer.
They also join guest stars Tika Sumpter, who reprises her role as Maddie, and Rory McCann. Naturally, Elba is back to voice the leading role but there’s no word on who exactly the cast members might be playing. It’ll follow the story of Knuckles taking Wade under his wing to teach him what it means to be an Echidna warrior. Sadly, we don’t know if we’ll see other characters from Sonic the Hedgehog‘s gaming universe.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 writer John Whittington is behind the pilot and also serves as a head writer on the series. He was supported by Brian Schacter and James Madejski to continue Knuckles’ story beyond the major film release from last year. Of course, Jeff Fowler, who tackled both films, is also returning as an executive producer while also directing the pilot episode.
In the Fall of 2020, trade reports broke the news that Marvel Studios had hired Kyle Bradstreet to develop a Disney Plus streaming series around Nick Fury. Long having been one of the MCU’s most important supporting characters, the man who put together the Avengers finally gets the spotlight in Secret Invasion and despite some issues, there can be no doubt that giving Samuel L. Jackson this much room to work as Fury was a solid decision. And despite 15 years of appearances, Secret Invasion makes it very clear that we simply do not know Nick Fury.
Though the series boasts an impressive supporting cast bolstered by the always-brilliant Ben Mendelsohn, who returns to the MCU as Talos, and Kingsley Ben-Adir as the brooding Gravik, Secret Invasion is–as advertised–a vehicle for Jackson’s Fury. And to the surprise of nobody, given more to do as Fury, Jackson simply does more with the graceful ease of a supremely talented actor who knows how to inhabit a role. Whether it’s the playful conversation with Olivia Colman‘s absolutely fantastic Sonya Falsworth, recollecting on train rides to Detroit with his mom or sharing a powerful scene with Don Cheadle‘s James Rhodes, Jackson’s performance alone makes the series a worthy entry in the MCU. Short of headliners Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans work as Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, respectively, it’s hard to recall a performance like the one on display here by Jackson. Secret Invasion shows, for the first time, a vulnerable Nick Fury who becomes, for the first time, a relatable character as each of the first two episodes peels away layers of what previously appeared to be a bulletproof persona putting THE spy on the outside looking in without his usual support. Where that ultimately leaves Fury is hard to say having only screened two episodes but as he tells Rhodey, he is Nick Fury and even when he’s out, he’s in.
By the end of the second episode, the stage is set and the grand plan of Gravik–whose previously unknown connection to Fury makes him an interesting and motivated foe–and his Skrull extremists made clear. Unfortunately, it takes two episodes to get to that point and as enjoyable as the performance by Jackson is, the first episode certainly slows down considerably after an exciting cold open and, at times, spins its wheels. Part of the pacing struggle comes from the increasingly unbearable weight of the shared universe that is the MCU and the prerequisite knowledge necessary to navigate each new entry. Good, bad or otherwise, an interconnected franchise of this magnitude can’t always blaze new trails and has to retread old ground. Though they aren’t present nor expected to be present in the series, Carol Danvers and the Avengers still take up chunk of the exposition and while that might be necessary, the heavy-handedness of the writer’s room only works as an exacerbating factor. If you know anything by the end of the first episode, it’s that Nick Fury hasn’t been the same since Thanos’ snap…because everyone he knows tells him all about it…again…and again…and again. That said, navigating the first episode is manageable and though it’s attempt to shock the audience falls unfortunately flat, it provides all the necessary table setting for the second episode to be one of the better episodes of television Marvel Studios has put together on Disney Plus. There’s some fun retconning and at least one surprise that you almost certainly don’t see coming.
Despite the slow start, through two episodes, it looks like Bradstreet and company have hit the mark for which they were aiming. Cleverly, most of what the audience thinks they know about the show through promotional footage and interviews seems to have been subterfuge by the studio. Essentially, Secret Invasion is not the show fans thought they were getting. “Who Do You Trust?” is more than just a tagline related to sorting out who is or isn’t a Skrull, it’s a reflection of the fact that the studio has created as much of a false flag as the Skrull operatives in the show. For a studio that gets criticized for its formula and generic press events, Marvel Studios went pretty non-formulaic here in leading the audience astray. One place they did stay true to their word, however, was in putting Jackson in the spotlight and if he, Cheadle, Mendelsohn and Ben-Adir continue to shine through the next four episodes, Secret Invasion will become one of Marvel Studios’ finest character-driven projects to date.
This weekend will mark the first time we might finally see the live-action One Piece series. There have been theories on what we might see outside of potentially some new posters to an actual trailer. While the manga’s creator, Eiichiro Oda, highlighted that they won’t go live without his say-so, it’s still set for a 2023 release. So, this weekend would be the perfect time to reveal a release date.
While we still wait it out for a few more days, it seems that the One Piece crew has come together ahead of the event, as Mackenyu Arata, who plays Zoro in the series, shared a new image. Funny enough, this is likely the first time we’ve seen the entire cast together in one image as there was a running gag of no one knowing where Mackenyu is during production.
Alongside the enthusiastic team behind-the-scenes, the cast is one major reason to be quite hopeful that this series might be among the great adaptations. They have been quite enthusiastic and even the first video of them interacting for the show has shown that they are quite fitting for their individual roles. Here’s hoping the wait to see them interact isn’t too far away now.
There was a lot of controversy when Netflix started its password-sharing shutdown. It took big steps to avoid people sharing passwords cross-country and most of the Internet pointed to dropping their involvement with the streaming service. Most expected a massive loss in subscriber numbers but once again the Internet remains a smaller space than one might think.
Netflix has reported that since their mail on password sharing was released on May 23rd, they saw around 100K daily new subscribers on May 26th and May 27th. Their current growth is even higher than what they saw during COVID, which is when people had nothing to do and were stuck at home most of the day.
Antenna shared the following graph with The Wrap on how the sign-ups have developed since pre-pandemic times.
Of course, cancelations have increased as well but they did not keep up with the sign-ups. It seems the rate has gone up by 25.6% in the previous 60 days. They are continuing to push the narrative that a Netflix subscription share is meant for a “household” and it#s surprising that there wasn’t a bigger drop overall.
It’ll be interesting to see if this continues to keep up long-term subscriber growth going or if this is just a blip for now. Either way, Netflix is very happy with its decision and most of the PR discussions will be forgotten over time. Of course, the question is if their content will remain more consistent with fewer cancelations moving forward to keep people watching.
With under 3 months to go before it’s set to stream on Disney Plus, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars streaming series, Ahsoka, has gotten a new release date. Originally set to release on August 31st, the Rosario Dawson-led series will not debut on August 23rd.
The series is set to reunite former Jedi Ahsoka Tano with the crew of the the Ghost as they embark on a quest to find Ezra Bridger. Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla and Chopper (and maybe some surprises) will join Bridger in making their live-action debuts along with the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsokafollows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
In Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, the Skrulls are here and they could be anybody. After waiting decades to find a planet to call their own, a faction of the shapeshifters have decided that they’ll just settle for taking Earth and Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury is the last person standing between them and what they really want. In order to stop them, Fury will turn to a network of friends and spies that he’s built over the years but when going up against an army of radicalized shapeshifters, who do you trust?
Ahead of the streaming spy thriller, we take a look at Fury’s potential allies and determine which ones have the best chance of being potential enemies as Skrulls in disguise. Since we assume they’ll all be simmed at one point in time or another, our odds here are based on the revelation of them being a Skrull being a major surprise and a huge plot point that moves the series forward rather than just a cute surprise within one episode.
At least part of Nick Fury’s MCU persona has been built on his ability to keep a lot of secrets from pretty much everyone. He hid Clint Barton’s entire family and helped Mockingbird create an entire new identity; he hung out in space while Talos simmed him and took his place on Earth; he’s also kept the presence of the shapeshifting Skrulls–a race he’s known about for almost 30 years–a secret from most everyone. That last one is going to come back to play a major role in Secret Invasion and it’s likely that even Fury will have a hard time keeping straight who he can and cannot trust. However, the biggest twist would be to find out that Fury is a Skrull…and not Talos just pretending to be him which almost certainly will happen at some point.
In the comics, one of the great twists built into multiple Skrull stories is that many of the shapeshifters were not aware that they were not the humans they were simming. This gave them a sincere sense of purpose and allowed to them to fulfill their duties without question. It would a lost opportunity not to include this added layer of deception in the streaming series and given Fury’s long history with the Skrulls, it could have happened so many times over the years that the writers might have to fight about when it could have happened.
For all we know, outside of Talos and Soren, Maria Hill may be the only character with a large role in Secret Invasion who knows that the Skrull power couple simmed Fury and Hill. That’s because there’s not been a character introduced in the MCU to date who Fury trusts more than Hill and according to Cobie Smulders, it sounds like she’ll have quite a major role to play in the streaming series.
Given the relationship the two have forged over the years, what would be more impactful than Hill actually being a Skrull is leaning heavily into the paranoia of Fury believing she is. Not only would this echo her arc from the 2008 comic book event but also at least partially take away one of Fury’s strongest allies…but the comics the MCU ain’t. The promotional material for the series seems to indicate that the two haven’t seen each other for some time, providing ample opportunity for a Skrull to have captured and simmed Hill which is exactly what Fury will be thinking which is what the audience will be thinking which is what they want the audience to think they are thinking!
Despite being played by the wonderful Martin Freeman, Everett Ross might be one of the most boring characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but Secret Invasion might be just the right time to spice up the character. Though it seems like he initially had more to do in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever than what he did in the final cut, the revelation that he had once been married to Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ equally boring Valentia Allegre de Fontaine provides a great opportunity to add some seasoning to Ross’ well-done steak.
The last time we saw Ross, he was being freed from U.S. Government custody by Okoye. Is it possible she freed an important Skrull operative? Absolutely! And, Ross is a perfect example of the type of figure that could have been an embedded Skrull for quite some time. His time in the Air Force and the CIA would have allowed him access to some fairly important intel; moreover, his relationship with Val could be even more fruitful given the secrets locked away in her mind. Given Ross’s “aw shucks” demeanor and the way Val treated him in Wakanda Forever, it would be a really ballsy move by showrunner KyleBradstreet to reveal that the Ross we thought we knew was a Skrull all along.
A brand new character–presumably with some deep family ties–who is both old frenemies with Fury, Olivia Colman‘s Sonya Falsworth provides an absolutely fascinating blank slate for Secret Invasion. The idea behind the character was to create another mysterious, behind-the-scenes mover and shaker like Fury. Falsworth will be interesting in that regard because if any non-known entity were to behave the way Fury does, they would not be trusted. The audience trusts Nick because they know Nick even though they really shouldn’t trust Nick…so how can you trust Falsworth? Nick almost certainly won’t inherently trust Falsworth and the series will almost certainly create an uneasiness around her.
On one hand, as one of MI6’s spymasters, the character is the perfect mark for a Skrull; on the other hand, it’s possible that she’s sharp enough to know about the Skrulls even before Fury approaches her about it. With no real basis for the character in the comics, one interesting twist they could throw Falsworth’s way would be to adapt the odd story of John the Skrull, one of the shapeshifters who, though he had infiltrated the ranks of the British government, became loyal to humanity and outed his fellow Skrulls. Should they choose for the character to be an outright villain, however, they could go the Mortimer Grimsdale route. Whatever the case, Colman’s Falsworth is expected to return so if she is a Skrull, her human counterpart is safe and sound somewhere…or she’ll remain in DEEP cover even after the big twists are revealed.
Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, has stated that James Rhodes’ solo feature film, Armor Wars, will spin out of the events of Secret Invasion…but why? According to Don Cheadle, Rhodey is the “righthand to the President” in the streaming series and will be “not directly at odds but somewhat on the other side of where Fury is.” Cheadle also indicated that Secret Invasion is all about the double-crosses and the tension between his Rhodey and Fury in the promotional footage that’s been rolled out indicates that neither man really seems to trust the other.
So why would Rhodes’ MCU future be tied to Secret Invasion? Maybe because his past hasn’t been his past at all. Though this isn’t a big, superhero-laden event like the 2008 comic book crossover, Rhodey is the only member of the cast to have been an Avenger and you can bet that the Skrulls wanted an inside man among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Off all the characters in the show outside of Fury himself, the revelation that Rhodes has been a Skrull for any period of time would cause the biggest shockwaves and generate the most questions. Tony Stark’s technology was a big concern for the Skrulls in the comics. Without him around, Rhodey is the next best character to take up that story which would lead nicely into Armor Wars. The real question here might not be “is Rhodey a Skrull?” but rather “how long has he been a Skrull?”…and how pissed off is he going to be when he wakes up.
Odds Rhodes will be revealed as a Skrull: 3-1
Who do you trust? Which of these characters do you think is most likely to be a Skrull? Head to our Twitter account and let us know!
Netflix has a reputation when it comes to anime live-action adaptations. Ever since they released Death Note in 2017, it seemed like many have made up their mind about what future anime adaptations will be like. Cowboy Bebop wasn’t welcomed with a lot of fanfare before swiftly being canceled after only one season. Still, Tomorrow Studios has one major project up their sleeve for Netflix: a live-action adaptation of One Piece.
It’s a major challenge to tackle one of the world’s biggest manga franchises but the talented team and cast added some hope for what’s to come. Among the talented cast is Taz Skylar, who will take on the role of the Straw Hat cook, Sanji. While filming, the actor shared his intense kick-based training while also highlighting he took cooking lessons.
In an interview with Zero Nine, Skylar got a chance to share what it was like bringing the character of Sanji to life and added that he had “a clean slate” for bringing a character to life that never had a live-action adaptation before but is aware of the challenge of bringing an animated character to life.
Whenever you see references of the character, (Sanji) I don’t have to worry about my interpretation being anything close or anything that is copying or resembling anything that anyone else has done. I get a clean slate when I do it. But secondly, with it being animation, there’s not a single thing you see that isn’t deliberately done.
Taz Skylar
He goes on to highlight what makes his character different from the others, as while most have a weapon of some kind, Sanji mainly uses kicks as his weapon of choice. He also deliberately doesn’t use his hands due to them being tools to cook.
Every other character has an external object they had to practice with. This doesn’t diminish the process of learning how to be good at something. However, in my case, I couldn’t learn to use the object until it became usable. Understanding the mechanics of kicking, for example, doesn’t count unless you can reach the target.
Taz Skylar
Skylar goes on to also share that he was all-in or “gone psycho” for this role. We’ve seen a lot of dedication from the cast throughout the production. He shared how he handled the pressure of preparing for this multi-faceted role.
I’ve never gone psycho like I’ve gone psycho on this. This is the hardest I’ve ever worked for anything in my entire life. But part of it was because of the pressure, which I don’t like admitting because I don’t think it’s a useful sentiment. My way of dealing with the pressure was to go, “Well, at least if I do everything that I know is humanly possible by my standards. And then, you know, if people don’t like it, I can’t go, ‘Oh, well, maybe just Ignore them and go for it.
Taz Skylar
To highlight what he accomplished during production, director Marc Jobst took to Twitter highlighting that “he’d come to rehearsal with another awesome dish” and that he was truly committed to the role.
Oh man, this guy. Trained so hard, so committed. An inspiration to watch. As to the cooking – every now and then he’d come to rehearsal with another awesome dish, albeit served with bloodied hands nipped in the process of learning knife skills! What a joy https://t.co/jPB5jZrytV
It’s great to see just how committed Skylar was to the role and here’s hoping that it’ll pay off with this series going on for many more years, as the story of One Piece is still being told after over 1,000 chapters. While the WGA may postpone any work on a second season and Netflix’s tendency to set very high standards for viewership, if there’s any project to accomplish it, it would be Eiichiro Oda’s work.
Convention season is upon us and as it begins to ramp into high gear, studio plans for the biggest fan convention of the year are once again a hot topic. Last year, Marvel Studios kept a lid on whether or not they’d even attend SDCC ’22 for quite some time, with One Above All Kevin Feige waiting until late June to confirm. While the Feigster has yet to comment on the studios plans for the 2023 convention, which will run from July 19-23, it looks like MCU fans can start planning out their Saturday night.
In response to a Tweet from the #WeSavedDaredevil account, Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D’Onoforio has revealed that he co-star Charlie Cox will “definitely” be at SDCC ’23.
We will definitely be there.
— Vincent D'Onofrio (@vincentdonofrio) June 5, 2023
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