Summary
One Piecehas sparked some renewed interest in the casting for Netflix’s now-confirmed second season, most notably from Jamie Lee Curtis.
First serialized in 1997,One Pieceis one of the longest-running manga in production. Set in a magical world dominated by the struggles between pirates, revolutionaries, and a unified World Government,One Pieceis among the best shounen anime everand follows Monkey D. Luffy and his crew as they set out to make him the King of the Pirates and fight back against the injustice around them. Speculation about a live-action adaptation has always been rampant amongst its many fans, and those wishes finally manifested when Netflix ordered a season with Matt Owens and Steven Maeda as showrunners.
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With the first season successfully behind it,One Piecemight have already chosen its first new cast member. After the live-actionOne Pieceseason 2 was confirmed, Hollywood star Jaime Lee Curtis took to her Instagram to join an ongoing fan campaign to get her the role of the eccentric Doctor Kureha in the show’s second season. “ONCE the STRIKE against the greed of the AMTPT is SETTLED with a FAIR CONTRACT, I will lobby along with the growing fan frenzy to become Doctor Kureha in @onepiecenetflix,” Kurtis captioned the post, which consisted of fanart and two other images highlighting the fan movement.
The post garnered much attention, including from co-showrunner Owens, who responded in the post’s comments section, saying, “Mommy dearest, that’s why we sent you that figure! No need to lobby. Once we get what we deserve and get back to work let’s talk!” With that response and the story arc involving Doctor Kureha being one of thethings fans want to see inOne Pieceseason 2, there’s a solid chance that this public exchange will lead to a future official announcement. The actress also uploaded a 2022 interview clip in which she revealed that her daughter had also urged her to seek out the role of Doctor Kureha in the live-action adaptation.
In addition to many other factors, the live-action show’s casting is one of its strongest points, highlighted when original series creatorOda Eiichiro praised theOne Pieceadaptation. While there is something to be said for appeasing fan campaigns, the fact that Curtis looks the part (similar to the bulk of the existing cast) and is a world-class performer should be the focus of her involvement. However, once she’s on board, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call her addition a win for the fans and the production. The comment section beneath the original post indicates that support for the casting will extend past those actively advocating for Curtis' addition.
While things look promising for Netflix’s latest attempt at a live-action adaptation, there are stillsome waysOne Pieceseason 2 can improveover season one. Even as fans eagerly await news on that front, the stopgap to any progress remains the SAG-AFTRA strike, keeping actors away from sets until an agreement can be reached.
