Since Netflix’s One Piece was confirmed for a second season, fans of the series speculated that actress Jamie Lee Curtis could appear in it as Dr. Kureha. Sadly, we learned that’s not going to happen.
Curtis has been a fan of the manga for years and has stated numerous times that she would love to appear in an adaptation of the series. With Season 2 covering the Baroque Works arc of the series, fans assumed that if she was going to appear in the show, it would be as the elderly and energetic Dr. Kureha. While the showrunners have yet to confirm any casting for Dr. Kureha, they did confirm one thing – Curtis is not portraying her.
Casting Jamie Lee Curtis in One Piece Was Always a Pipe Dream
Many fans took Jamie Lee Curtis’ role as a foregone conclusion, mostly due to the co-showrunner of the series, Matt Owens, saying in a Deadline interview that they were trying to get it done. “We’re trying to manifest it… I will take her out to dinner, we’ll talk about it,” he said. “We’ll do all of it because at this point we’re writing for her — we really, really want her to come and play with us in Season 2.”
However, reality has a way of getting in the way of our hopes and dreams. During an interview with Becky Clements, the head of Tomorrow Studios, in July 2024, she confirmed that Curtis would not appear in Season 2 of One Piece, stating, “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.”
“Life is no longer daijobu…” a despondent Redditor commented after the news broke.
“Well, RIP season 2” another Redditor wrote.
“This is the worst!” Tiktok user onetrackpunk posted.
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Who Will Be Cast as Dr. Kureha in One Piece Season 2?
This One Piece news shouldn’t be at all surprising, given how busy Jamie Lee Curtis has been in the past few years. After winning an Oscar for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, she’s been involved in plenty of projects and has an increasingly packed schedule. Not only that but filming for One Piece takes place in Cape Town, South Africa, so to have her out of the country for weeks would throw all of the other productions involving her into complete disarray.
That being said, while many people accept scheduling conflicts as a valid reason for her being unable to appear, some users are disappointed by one of the films she’s involved in that’s preventing her from appearing in the series – Freaky Friday 2.
“Are… are people actually interested in Freaky Friday 2? I’d understand if it was for a good movie but that’s guaranteed to be a stinker. Bummer!” One Reddit user groaned.
Regardless of the reason, Jamie Lee Curtis being in One Piece was always a pipe dream. It’s an example of fan-casting that gained a lot of traction and support but is still ultimately fan-casting. With Curtis out of the running, attention immediately turned to who else could possibly play the witch of Drum Island. While some other celebrities came up in Reddit posts like Jane Lynch, Tilda Swinton, Dame Helen Mirren, and even Geddy Lee, most tended to gravitate toward the idea that it should be a fairly unknown actress, much like how a lot of the core cast members in Season 1 were fairly unknown. Can’t be disappointed if you don’t know who they are!
Regardless of who they cast, chances are that the second season of the show will, much like the first, be a solid adaptation of the manga and serve as a jumping-on point for people who want to get into One Piece.