One Piece Creator Has An Ideal Cast For Its Live-Action TV Show

Last week, one of the anime fandom’s most popular titles has a bombshell dropped on it. Eiichiro Oda announced One Piece was officially headed to Hollywood as the creator signed off on a deal to adapt his series into a live-action TV show. One Piece fans are still reeling from shock, but Oda isn’t wasting time with the project.

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Apparently, the artist even has an ideal cast in place for the show.

Over on Twitter, the user Sandman shared an interesting note with the One Piece fandom. The netizen shared a live-stream link to an interview the One Piece cast did in Japan to honor the series’ 20th anniversary. It was there the voice actor for Franky, Kazuki Yao, referenced the live-action series. The actor told fans that Oda has an ideal casting for One Piece‘s live-action show, and fans are now desperate to hear more.

When it comes to live-action anime adaptations, casting is of the upmost priority. Recent projects like Ghost in the Shell got slammed for their casting choices, and Death Note has also be subjected to such critiques. One Piece‘s origins push fans to rally for diverse casts which feature Asian or Asian-American stars, and fans are particularly concerned about how One Piece will fill its roster.

After all, Oda has commented and said One Piece‘s characters aren’t all of Japanese heritage; For instance, Usopp is said to hail from Africa. Fans will be looking to Oda to guide Tomorrow ITV Studios as it moves forward with its ambitious live-action plans. There is no telling if any bigger stars will sign onto the project, but Jamie Lee Curtis could be persuaded. After all, the actress did attend the Hollywood premiere of One Piece Film: Gold back in January.

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Viz Media’s synopsis for One Piece can be read below:

As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally gained the power to stretch like rubber—at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, Luffy sets off in search of the One Piece, said to be the greatest treasure in the world…

Eiichiro Oda began his manga career in 1992 at the age of 17, when his one-shot cowboy manga Wanted! won second place in the coveted Tezuka manga awards. Oda went on to work as an assistant to some of the biggest manga artists in the industry, including Nobuhiro Watsuki, before winning the Hop Step Award for new artists. His pirate adventure One Piece, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, quickly became one of the most popular manga in Japan.