Netflix’s One Piece Writer Reveals How Involved Creator is with Live-Action Series

One of the writers behind Netflix‘s new live-action One Piece series revealed just how involved the original series creator is with the new project. Officially announced to be in the works toward the beginning of the year, the new live-action take on One Piece has been one of the most curious Netflix productions just yet. The series was announced to have original manga creator Eiichiro Oda serving as executive producer over the new work, but it’s been unclear just how much Oda is involved with this new live-action series as it makes its way towards the start of production.

As far as the writing for the new live-action One Piece series is concerned, however, Oda has been involved in a pretty major capacity. One of the lead writers behind the Netflix series, Matt Owens, recently updated fans on the project during RogersBase’s recent The Reverie streaming event and explained that Oda is closely involved with the work.

As Owens explained, “Oda and his team are very involved. They read all of our outlines, and all of our scripts and give us notes.” When asked whether or not the Netflix team is going to be making any changers to the original series, or whether they had creative liberties, Owens explained that it’s a balancing act.

As he elaborated further about Oda’s involvement, “It’s always a conversation between us and Oda and his team….We always go back to the source material.” As to whether or not they are making wild changes, “Netflix knows how valuable this property is because of what it is. It is successfully because of what it is in its existence already. Any changes are just about trying to make it palatable to a wider audience and a live action version of it. No changes come because it’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t like the Arlong fight…’ There’s nothing like that.”

Unfortunately, it might be a while before fans get to see the live-action series as Owens also confirmed that casting or filming has yet to officially begin for One Piece. But what do you think? Does it make you feel better to see Oda involved in every step of the process? Wondering how the series is going to translate to live-action? What do you think might play out better in the new series than the original manga or anime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!