Curtis, a nerd for the One Piece franchise, has stated before that if there were a live-action, she would love to take on the role of Dr. Kureha, although now it might not be possible. In an interview with Deadline, Becky Clements (Snowpiercer) from Tomorrow Studios revealed that the casting sadly would not come to be.
“She loves the show, but she has too many films and TV shows that she’s going into production on, so our production dates aren’t going to work, Clements tells Deadline. “She definitely wanted to do it, but she’s got deals in first position, and it just became complicated.” On the bright side, Clements adds that “an amazing person” has been found to fill the vacant role.
As per TVLine, showrunner Matt Owens (Luke Cage) even stated that the role was being written for Curtis back when the series first started. Owens said, “We have opportunities to stunt cast some roles that are very important, and it came out that Jamie Lee Curtis is a One Piece fan. As soon as she said that, we were like, ‘OK, we have to try and get her on the show. What can we do?’ And Dr. Kureha, very luckily, is a character who is coming up in our story, and is someone who is perfect for Jamie Lee Curtis.”
Owens was trying to manifest Curtis taking on the role of Dr. Kureha in 2023. He explained, “As of right now, SAG is still striking, so there have not been real conversations. But as soon as there can be, I’m ready. I will take her out to dinner, we’ll talk about it. 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 two.”
Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece is available to stream on the platform, with the second season in the works.