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In a recent interview with Variety, Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s Head of Scripted Series U.S. and Canada, responded to viewers’ concerns about the potential future of the most anticipated Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece, i.e. One Piece live action’s Season 2, in the light of cancellations of shows on the platform, such as Cowboy Bebop.
Cowboy Bebop bore the burden of fans’ expectations, but it failed to meet any of them, meekly getting cancelled just a single season due to poor reception.
The live-action adaptation of One Piece finds itself in a similar boat, especially when it comes to expectations from the fans. And given all the marketing and promotions that Netflix has done for the series, along with Oda’s close supervision, it is safe to say that the chances of it failing are highly unlikely.
According to the interview with Variety, Friedlander revealed that he can’t make any premature promises regarding One Piece live-action season 2.
“You can’t get it right every time,” Friedlander admitted, acknowledging the challenges in predicting the success of a series. However, he also emphasized the platform’s recent record of renewing shows, giving examples of ‘The Sandman’ and ‘Wednesday’ from the previous year.
“You can’t get it right every time. You hope that with creative passion and storytellers that you do. And that’s what I’m here for, is to support the storytellers and how they interpret and adapt and experience an IP. And I think we’ve had a pretty impressive run when you think about just within the last year with ‘The Sandman’ and ‘Wednesday.’ And I do think we are able to adapt some of these IP into something that’s extraordinary and unexpected, and still truly honor what it is.“
Co-showrunners Steven Maeda and Matt Owens also shed light into their thought process regarding One Piece live action’s season 2. They stated that they want to take it one step at a time, citing the abundance of source material that Oda had provided them with, which according to them has led to “so many possibilities and endless permutations”.
Maeda also expressed gratitude to Oda for his guidance and the collaboration, which resulted in the creation of the best version of the show they could come up with.
“Along with Oda-san’s oversight and cooperation and partnership, I think that we came up with the very best version of this show that we can. I can’t complain that money wasn’t spent, I can’t complain that our hands were tied — we were able to make the show we wanted to make.”
One Piece live-action will release on Aug 31, 2023, exclusively on Netflix.
The One Piece live-action cast includes Iñaki Godoy, who portrays Monkey D. Luffy, Emily Rudd as Nami, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar will play Sanji. Colton Osorio will portray a young Luffy.
Furthermore, Peter Gadiot will play Shanks, Morgan Davies as Koby, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida, Aidan Scott as Helmeppo, Jeff Ward as Buggy, McKinley Belcher III as Arlong, and Vincent Regan as Garp.
The other cast members include:
- 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
It was previously revealed that the original Japanese voice actors will be returning to portray their characters for the Japanese dub of the live-action adaptation
The live-action will be adapting the East-Blue Saga from the One Piece manga and then “broaden from there”. Matt Owens will serve as the upcoming show’s writer, while Steven Maeda and Becky Clements will be executive producers along with Eiichiro Oda.
The soundtrack for the live action, titled “Wealth, Fame, Power,” is composed by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, best known for their work on “The Witcher“.
Netflix will exclusively stream the series, produced by Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between producer Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios.
The live action adaptation was under production in South Africa since Feb 1, 2022.
Source: Variety
