By Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis is a noted fan of the “One Piece” anime, speaking about her love of Tony Tony Chopper and how she would love to play Nico Robin.
The actress isn’t the right age for Robin, but there had been a growing push for her to score a role in the Netflix live-action series for its second season – specifically as Chopper’s mentor Dr. Kureha which she matches.
Curtis and showrunner Matt Owens had an exchange on social media during the strikes suggesting that they would try and reach a deal once the strikes are over. Fans have since taken her casting as a fait accompli.
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Becky Clements, who serves as a producer on the series along with other shows like “Snowpiercer” and “Physical,” tells Deadline that Curtis couldn’t do the role due to scheduling:
“She loves the show. She has too many films and TV shows that she’s going into production on so our production dates aren’t going to work. She definitely wanted to do it but she’s got deals in first position, and it just became complicated.”
Asked if somebody is playing Kureha in the new season, Clements says: “We have found an amazing person” which indicates someone has been cast – just not yet announced.
Filming on the second season is only in its third week in South Africa and is expected to continue through to December. Clements says between 900 and 1,200 people are working on the production with multiple episodes shooting at the same time and two units going.
They’ve been hit by a lot of rain early on, but expected that as it’s winter in South Africa and so they’ve adjusted their schedule “so that the majority of our exterior stuff will shoot closer to the end of the year, Summer”.
One big thing they plan to retain is the blue-sky visuals of the first season so plenty of sun-drenched exteriors for scenes:
“We will absolutely maintain the creative and all the exteriors and blue sky and visual effects. We recently moved something to the interior, and we agreed that in the end, that interior scene doesn’t feel as dynamic as we need it to. We’ll find a place on the schedule when our weather gets better to shoot it again.
Netflix, they understand, they are good partners when we have to make those last-minute decisions. July, August are the tougher months, and we adjusted our schedule so that the majority of our exterior stuff will shoot closer to the end of the year, summer.”
Asked if their plan for “at least six seasons” is still the case, she says as long as those behind the show are set to back it – they’re ready:
“We have those plans. Matt Owens has it in his head, it’s just a matter of our partners who’ve been amazing, wanting to keep moving forward, but we are creatively prepared, I’ll say that. We have multiple seasons that we can talk about.”
Clements confirms filming on the new season will run into December and adds that as it’s a very VFX-heavy season, it’s going to be a while before it airs.
The show’s first season was released on Netflix a full year after filming had wrapped, so it’s likely the “One Piece” second season won’t arrive on the service until late 2025 or early 2026.
The post Jamie Lee Curtis Not In “One Piece” S2 appeared first on Dark Horizons.
