Emily Rudd Calls Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Live-Action Adaptation “A Show Made By Nerds, For Nerds” (2024)

For Emily Rudd, starring in Netflix‘s live-action adaptation of One Piece is a dream come true. Coming to the project as a huge anime fan and self-proclaimed nerd, she has nothing but glowing things to say about the series she was able to bring to life alongside her costars and showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda.

Based on Eiichiro Oda’s iconic manga series and the long-running anime of the same name, the new series will release on August 31, 2023 with eight episodes.

The adventure series follows young dreamer Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) as he leaves his small village in search of treasure and assembles a talented pirate crew to help him face off against several dangerous rivals — that’s where Rudd comes in. She joins the pirate crew as Nami, a lone thief with fine-tuned navigational skills.

But how do you approach source material that has been covered in 105 graphic novels and over 1000 episodes of an anime series? Easy: you have to be a fan. The actor, who previously starred in Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy and the Prime Video series Hunters, told Decider during an event at Netflix’s New York City office that she has “never wanted anything more” than to be part of this series.

Rudd said, “To actually be able to live it is… I truly can’t put it into words. I feel like I’m done…” And when it comes to what excites her the most about the One Piece adaptation, Rudd said she’s most proud of making “a nerd show.”

In our brief conversation, we were able to chat about how she got involved with the series and her bonding experience with her castmates, given that they play such a tight ensemble. While introducing herself at the press event, she said that she’s a “big anime fan,” so we also picked her brain about that.

DECIDER: You introduced yourself today as “a big anime fan.” Given One Piece‘s popularity, I’m sure this is a dream role for you.

EMILY RUDD: I have never wanted anything more in my entire life. To actually be able to live it is… I truly can’t put it into words. I feel like I’m done. What could possibly be next? If I had to stop here, I’d be like, “This is good enough for me.” I’m really proud of the show we made. We made a nerd show — a good nerd show. A show made by nerds, for nerds.

How familiar were you with One Piece before auditioning for the role?

I’ve always known about One Piece – it’s a massive IP – but I didn’t start watching [the show] until I met our showrunner, Matt Owens, who has been my best friend for the last six years. We are with the same agency and they said, “Hey, you’re both nerds – go have coffee, chat it out.” And we did. He was like, “Yeah, I think I’m going to bring One Piece to Netflix. You should watch it if you haven’t.” And I was like “Okay, yeah, I’ll dive into 1000 plus episodes.” But I did.

That’s a lot. Did you watch all the episodes?

Well, I read all the manga. I’m still working on the anime. There’s something about reading where I feel like the information is going into my brain in a very healthy way, and then with the anime, I was getting distracted.

You recently made a splash on Netflix with the Fear Street trilogy. Did that role tie into your casting for this project? Did Netflix reach out to you like, “Hey, we’re doing One Piece and we know you’re a fan…“

I think it helped being in the Netflix family already. They were probably like, “Oh, Emily Rudd? We know her, we loved Fear Street.” But this was totally different. We go from horror to this crazy, action-adventure fantasy show. So, it was still a process where I got the audition and had to tape for it.

The entire ensemble cast feels very tight-knit, like you are all best friends. Who did you spend the most time with on set and how would you describe the relationship between your characters?

We all kind of spent time with each other equally, but I spent a lot of time with Iñaki [Godoy] and we definitely developed this older-sister-younger-brother dynamic. He’s 19 and I am not, so I felt a little protective of him. But, also he’s so energetic, so playful — it’s infectious. We created silly little bits that we just milked to death.

And then Jake [Gibson], Taz [Skylar] and I just bopped around Cape Town and everything, checking out all of the nightlife and restaurants after filming.

What was that experience like?

It was amazing! It feels like a small Los Angeles, but the people are nicer. It’s the kind of place where people come up to you in a bar and they just start talking to you because they want to be your friend. Cape Town was amazing and getting to hang out with everybody outside of work and on set was a dream. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast.

Want to learn more about One Piece? Check out our conversation with Iñaki Godoy.