Netflix casts Yellowjackets star as Shanks in live-action One Piece show

One Piece is the best-selling manga series in history. It’s about a young boy named Monkey D. Luffy who dreams of one day being a pirate king and finding the legendary One Piece treasure. So off he goes. Over two decades and one hundred volumes later, he’s still at it, and has made a merchandising empire in the process. An anime series has been going on nearly as long, and has produced over 1,000 episodes.

And now, Netflix is going to make a live-action show. Variety reports that they’ve cast Yellowjackets star Peter Gadiot as Red-Haired Shanks, the pirate who inspires Luffy to take up the profession in the first place.

Gadiot joins an expanding cast that also includes Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D Luffy, Mackenyu as Rorona Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, Taz Skylar as Sanji, Morgan Davies as Koby, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida, Aidan Scott as Helmeppo, Jeff Ward as Buggy, McKinley Belcher III as Arlong and Vincent Regan as Garp.

Netflix’s live-action One Piece remake cast

One Piece is a shōnen series, meaning it’s primarily aimed at young boys and has a lot of action; other popular shōnen series include Dragonball Z or Full Metal Alchemist. One Piece doesn’t take itself too seriously; for instance, Monkey’s body is made of rubber, a condition he gained after eating Devil Fruit. It’s whimsical, but it makes for fun fight scenes.

Netflix may have a hard time translating this kind of thing for the small screen. So far, their attempts to do live-action versions of anime series have fallen flat. Their Cowboy Bebop show was cancelled after one season and the Death Note movie went over with a thud. Will One Piece change things?

There’s no release date for One Piece as of yet.

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