'One Piece' Live Action Series Adds Peter Gadiot as Shanks

24/10/2022

Last month, on Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the popular anime . Now, with filming well underway, fans have been given some very important casting news: Peter Gadiot has been cast in the series as Shanks, aka “Red-Haired Shanks”, the legendary Pirate.

is based on a manga of the same name from writer and illustrator Eiichiro Oda that has been running since 1997 and, with over a thousand chapters, is still releasing new installments to this day. The anime adaptation of the manga has been airing since 1999, with over a thousand episodes and a number of theatrical tie-in films. The series follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who has a body made of rubber, who sets off on a journey to find the One Piece, a mythical treasure that gives its holder the ability to declare themselves the Pirate King. In his journey, Luffy encounters many new friends, enemies, and a lot of adventure. Shanks is a legendary pirate who is the one who inspires Luffy to become a pirate in the first place and search out the One Piece. In the manga and anime, Shanks is often seen as a secondary protagonist alongside Luffy.

Gadiot’s casting was announced in a video on the Netflix series' . In the short video, the star personally announces that he will be playing Shanks, before confirming that he is in Cape Town currently working on the production. will not be Gadiot’s first experience in stepping in the shoes of a fan beloved character: the actor previously starred in as a character based on the Genie from .

Gadiot will be joining the previously announced cast of Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero Gibson, Taz Skylar, Morgan Davies, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Aidan Scott, Jeff Ward, McKinley Belcher III, and Vincent Regan. The live-action adaptation is written by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda ,who will also be serving together on the series as co-showrunners and executive producers. They are joined as executive producers by Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, and Oda.