Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Star Joe Manganiello Says He Checked In With Eiichiro Oda To Make Sure Portrayal Of Crocodile Was “Paying Respect” To Source Material
In keeping with the series’ proven creative goal of treating Eiichiro Oda’s seminal manga with the utmost care, Netflix’s One Piece star Joe Manganiello says that not only is he aware of the fan expectations towards his upcoming take on the villainous Crocodile, but that he is actively working to “respect” them.
Manganiello, who readers may recognize for his roles as Alcide Herveau in HBO’s True Blood, Flash Thompson in Sony’s original Spider-Man film, and Deathstroke in the post-credits scene of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, spoke to his approach to the Sand-Sand Fruit user’s live-action portrayal while speaking to Parade’s Mike Bloom in promotion of the upcoming series finale of Deal or No Deal Island, which the actor has hosted ever since its premiere in May 2024.
Near the end of their time together, Bloom took a moment to turn the conversation to the topic of One Piece, in doing so pressing Manganiello as to his experience with “embracing a character that had so many canonical links from the original source material.”
In turn, the actor asserted, “It’s a bit similar to when I was cast on True Blood, to a certain degree.”
“I appeared in season three of True Blood and it was a series of very popular novels,” he recalled, “so to be embodying a character that people love and are waiting for, that already has this established fan base on a show that’s a moving train basically – I’m jumping on the moving train – it’s a little bit similar.”
From there, Manganiello admitted, “With that said, there’s a lot to digest because of the post-modern nature of [One Piece].”
“You know, you’re in kind of this like ‘colonial era pirate show’, but then there’s like neon signs, and people are wearing Air Jordans, so it’s very surrealistic and dreamlike,” he told Bloom. “But what I love is that there’s so many different spices to put into the jambalaya mix. I’m missing an arm, and there’s other characters in the canon that are missing limbs and they have things in common with why they’re missing those limbs, and so it made me think about ‘How did I lose [my arm]?'”
To this end, the actor then revealed that “because there are things that haven’t been explained about the character in either the manga or the anime, I had the opportunity to talk to [mangaka Eiichiro] Oda about my thoughts on where his scar came from, how the lost limb happened and the hook was replaced, his new choice of profession as casino owner and mob boss rather than pirate, the Devil Fruit.”
Winding down his thoughts on his role as the first series antagonist to deliver a true defeat to Luffy amidst his quest to become the Pirate King, Manganiello noted, “I mean, all of these things have appeared in two-dimensions up till now, and I have to breathe life into three-dimensional character where all of these things have backstories and there’s a there’s a a weight of that you know that the character carries around, while also tipping my hat to the existing fan base and paying respect to the 1300 plus episodes of cartoon that Japanese fans and fans around the world love.”
“So I’m paying my respects to them through my performance,” he ultimately concluded, “and it’s just been a blast.”
Having wrapped filming in February, the second season of Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation is currently planning to unfurl its sails and kick off its trip to the country of Alabasta sometime later this year.
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