Two years after the announcement, in 2022 Netflix began recording the live-action of One Piece in Africa, one of the most popular anime in the world and the notorious one, with more than 1,000 episodes. Peter Gadiot, the memorable James Valdez of The Queen of the South, confirmed that he will be the red-haired pirate Shanks. “We just started production here in Cape Town, and I can't wait for them to see it,” said the British-Mexican actor in a Netflix Geeked tweet.
In addition to the USA Network series, Gadiot, 37, was Cyrus in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Ka in Tut. It is the latest addition to the group of artists that Netflix brought together to bring the anime characters, derived from the manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, into real action. Iñaki Godoy (as Monkey D. Luffy), Arata Mackenyu (Rornoa Zoro), Emily Rudd (Nami), Jacob Romero Gibson (Usopp), Taz Skylar (Sanji), Morgan Davies (Koby), Ilia Isorelys Paulino (Alvida), Aidan Scott (Helmeppo), Jeff Ward (Buggy), McKinley Belcher III ( Arlong) and Vincent Regan (Garp).
One Piece began in 1997 as the Oda manga, published in Weekly Shonen Jump. In 2010 it set a record when its volume 57 reached three million copies; it surpassed it two years later, when volume 67 had a first edition of more than four million copies. The last one, 101, came out in December 2021 and it was announced that Oda will publish the 102 on Friday, April 4. Videogames, movies, novels and music are part of the franchise. Among the many translations of the manga, Panini Comics and Ivrea have published it in Latin America and in Spain, Planeta Comic.
The animated series is another phenomenon in itself. It began in 1999 and its 1,000th episode was released in November 2021; made by Toei Animation, it is still on the air and Netflix added it to its catalog two years ago.
It tells the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a young rubber boy who was inspired by his childhood idol, the pirate Shanks, to go out in search of the One Piece. It is a mythical treasure that Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates, said, on the day of his execution, was available to anyone who found it.
At the beginning of the Great Pirate Age, Luffy plunges into the East Blue Sea as commander of a crew of his own, the Straw Hat Pirates. On their adventures they encounter other treasure hunters, other pirates, various criminal or revolutionary organizations, secret agents and representatives of the World Government and its Navy.
The addition of Gadiot as Shanks allows us to infer that the live-action will have several visits to the past, when the red-haired pirate, one of the Four Emperors of the New World of One Piece, met Luffy and instigated him to eat the devil fruit that gave him special powers. Shanks was also the one who handed him the straw hat that identifies Luffy and his group.
The Netflix series will have 10 episodes in its first season. By Tomorrow Studios (a partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios), the production will feature the original creator, Oda, as executive producer. Steven Maeda and Becky Clements will work alongside him, while Matt Owens (Luke Cage, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will be in charge of the screenplay. As Adelstein anticipated five years ago, One Piece will start with the East Blue saga “and expand from there”.
In a statement, Oda referred to the project's delays: “We have been working with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios on the huge project that is the Hollywood live-action series adaptation of One Piece. How many years have passed since it was announced, right? I know, I know! But rest assured that we have made steady progress since then. It's not easy when you work with people from different cultures! But that process is precisely what can result in something special.”
In announcing the main cast, he added that it was necessary to hurry to do so “or else it would leak, apparently!” About these actors, who Gadiot now joins, he observed: “Their faces, the size of their mouths and hands, their aura, the way they conduct themselves, their voices, their acting skills, their stature, the balance within the Straw Hat group... We chose this cast after discussing numerous people from all over the world.”
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