Ever since being announced in 2017, Netflix's One Piece Live-action has been heavily anticipated by the fans of Eiichiro Oda's masterpiece. Having been starved of news on the main cast of the series, fans finally know who's playing the beloved Straw Hat Pirates' "East Blue Five" in the live-action adaptation as information on the cast finally dropped.
In a Twitter post, the official account for One Piece's live-action adaptation revealed the cast for Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, all of which will be central to the first season of the show. Iñaki Godoy will be playing the protagonist of the series, Monkey D. Luffy, and joining him are Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji.
The account on Twitter also posted a short video where the cast introduced themselves to the fans and it is safe to say that the fans are more than pleased with the much-awaited reveal. Along with the cast reveal for the East Blue Five of the Straw Hat Pirates, fans also received a message from Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, who talked extensively about the development of the live-action series and the cast selected. Oda assures the fans that steady progress is being made and that he expects the work to yield a special result.
Steve Maeda the showrunner for Netflix's One Piece live-action series, and Matt Owens, the co-writer and executive producer, also talked about the cast of the series that they decided to go ahead with, promising the fans that they would come to love them just as much as their manga counterparts. Furthermore, Netflix also revealed bounty posters for the stars who play the five members of the Straw Hat crew, adding an exquisite touch to the announcement.
Produced by Tomorrow Studios, who are also behind the Cowboy Bebop Netflix live-action series, One Piece's first season is set to have a total of 10 episodes. It is believed that the 10 episodes will adapt the first 100 chapters of the One Piece manga, meaning the entirety of the East Blue Saga will be featured in the first season. The very first episode of the season is titled "Romance Dawn," which is very much in line with the manga's first arc.
The majority of the fans of One Piece seem to be very excited by the announcement of the cast, especially since all five of them seem to exude the same energy as their manga counterparts. Although the track record for manga live-action adaptations certainly isn't a good one, One Piece seems to be in good hands, as both Steve Maeda and Matt Owens are huge fans of the show. The actors seem to be very deeply into their characters as well, as evident from their introduction, and even their interactions on Instagram. What's more, Eiichiro Oda is also involved in the project as the executive producer and firmly believes that this project will be a success.