One Piece fans rejoice, a live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga is coming to Netflix. A total of ten episodes have been ordered so far and will be produced by the same studio, Tomorrow Studios, who are currently working on the upcoming Netflix Cowboy Bebop adaptation. Here’s the latest and everything we know so far.
As franchises go, One Piece is one of the most beloved and well-recognized manga series of all time. Since making its debut on July 22nd, 1997 in an issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, 969 chapters of the manga have been published, along with 95 volumes and still counting!
One Piece is also recognized as the highest-selling manga of all time, outselling the likes of Dragon Ball, Golgo 13, and Naruto with over 462 million copies sold. This also makes One Piece one of the highest-grossing fictional franchises of all time, generated over $21 billion in revenue across its multiple mangas, films, video games and various other pieces of merchandise.
The original anime series is also joining Netflix. Multiple seasons are set to hit Netflix in the US and other regions in June 2020.
What is the story of One Piece?
The story of One-Piece takes place on an alternate version of Earth, and one that is currently in the midst of the ‘Golden Age of Pirates’. Ruthless cut-throat pirates rule the seas, and only the strongest have the chance to lay claim to the mythical treasure known as ‘One Piece’ that was left behind by the greatest pirate of them all Gol D. Roger. Years after the death of Gol D. Roger, a young boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy has dreams of raising his own crew, finding One Piece and declaring himself as Pirate King.
After eating a devil fruit that grants Luffy the power to make his body like rubber, it gives him enormous strength and agility. When Luffy finally comes of age, he sets sail from Foosha Village in East Blue and sets upon his grand adventure to become the next Pirate King.
A young Luffy eats the Gum-Gum Fruit – Copyright. Toei Animation
Where is One Piece in production and when will it release on Netflix?
It’s far too early to know a release date, but at the earliest, we could see the live-action One Piece series in 2021.
Five months after its initial announcement, we’ve got some new information on the production courtesy of an interview with Marty Adelstein via Syfy.
According to the interview, production was due to get underway over the summer of 2020 however, with the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s been pushed back. However, Marty said they’re hoping to “ramp up later this year”.
Filming is set to take place in Cape Town in South Africa. He also added:
“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. 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.”
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: A One Piece live action is in the works! @OnePieceNetflix pic.twitter.com/gnuR5JgmXw
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) January 29, 2020
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!!”
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) January 29, 2020
Could we see more than one season?
There is an immense amount of source material that can be covered in a live-action adaptation. In the anime, the episode count currently stands at 909, there’s no chance that the live-action adaptation will have that number of episodes. If further seasons are expected in the future we can expect to see plenty of filler glossed over, and the story of the arcs cut up.
While the idea of cutting up any of the One Piece stories may be blasphemous, how in the world can a live-action series cover 95 volumes of manga in only a few seasons? Each season may cover the respective ‘Saga’ which has a select number of story arcs.
The first season of the live-action adaptation will cover the recruitment of Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji and end with Luffy’s fight against Arlong.
Other Live-Action adaptations on Netflix
One Piece isn’t the first live-action anime adaptation, and certainly won’t be the last. At the time of writing Netflix is currently working on the live-action Cowboy Bebop series and The Last Airbender.
More live-action adaptations on Netflix are:
Are you looking forward to watching a live-action One Piece series on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
