Rumored castings for Netflix's live-action One Piece series have been debunked by one of the actors in question, Alex Lange. One Piece began as a manga created by Eiichiro Oda in 1997. Since then, it has grown into a massive media franchise in its own right, spawning video games, movies, and an anime series that began in the same year as the manga and is still going today. Centered on a young man named Money D. Luffy, One Piece follows his quest to find the titular treasure, which will then allow him to become the King of the Pirates.
In January 2020, Netflix announced they were developing a live-action One Piece series alongside Oda, who has been working to get an adaptation of the series made since 2017. The Netflix show has assembled a writing staff, but updates have been slow to arrive. This is largely because work was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Just a few weeks ago, showrunner Steven Maeda confirmed work on One Piece has finally started up once more, reigniting excitement for the series.
Recently, a rumored cast list for One Piece began to make the rounds online, particularly on Reddit. The list reportedly came from a production magazine, which claims One Piece will begin shooting in the spring. There was much discussion over the castings, but as one involved actor has revealed, they are not true. Alex Lange was listed to be playing Sanji and several fans reached out about the news. However, as Lange said, it isn't happening with him. "to all the One Piece fans hitting me up: as far as i know, the leaked casting is not real!!" he wrote.
This is not the first time rumors have swirled about One Piece and casting. Just last fall, writer Matt Owens debunked reports the series had begun assembling its cast, insisting it had yet to take place. That more rumors about the potential One Piece cast have spread so quickly indicates fans are eager to know who will be playing the likes of Luffy, Sanji, and the rest. Now that One Piece has resumed work, it seems likely that casting will finally be taking place. However, it still might take some time before any names are announced.
Based on the lack of casting and the pre-production disruption, it looks like One Piece won't premiere until either much later in the year or early 2022. There could very well be hopes to start filming in the spring, as the magazine asserted, but it's best to wait until a clearer source verifies this before getting one's hopes up. Work on One Piece is still underway, even if it isn't as far along as fans might hope.
Source: Alex Lange/Twitter