Last week was en eventful one for One Piece fans, specifically those invested in the live-action adaptation that’s streamable with a Netflix subscription. In addition to the first look at Chopper in the now-filming One Piece Season 2 being shared, it was also confirmed that Joe Manganiello and Lera Anova will respectively play Mr. 0, a.k.a. Crocodile, and Miss All Sunday, a.k.a. Nico Robin. Following this latest round of casting news, Manganiello has shared his opinion on what makes Crocodile such a compelling villain, particularly when it comes to being a foil for Monkey D. Luffy.
Joe Manganiello and Lera Abova got together with One Piece showrunner Matt Owens durng Netflix’s Geeked Week 2024 event to discuss coming aboard the series. When Owens asked them what kind of research they did for their roles, Manganiello started out by saying he has “tables and shelves full of all these different versions of Crocodile to look at” while he’s “going through the material.” Ultimately though, what matters most to him for playing a character like Crocodile is making him feel “real,” which entails understanding the “different intentions” and “different path” he has compared to some of the other characters. Manganiello then said:
But what I found, he is the flip side of the coin from Luffy, potentially. He represents this dark potential future for Luffy if he’s affected or allows the trauma of defeat to infect him the way it was for me, and I think that there’s a part of Crocodile that wants everyone to suffer the way that he did after Whitebeard, or with the disappointment of not becoming the King of the Pirates and letting that go. And of course, not trusting your friends.
As the leader of the Baroque Works crime syndicate who ate the Sand-Sand Fruit and was once one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the hook-handed, cigar-smoking Crocodile was one of the most powerful adversaries Luffy faced early on into One Piece’s manga and anime run. As Joe Manganiello mentioned, Crocodile also has bitter history with the powerful pirate Whitebeard, which would later be explored in the Impel Down and Marineford arcs. While there’s certainly no question that Crocodile is a bad guy, Manganiello has done his homework and honed in on the traits that make his character feel third-dimensional.
Because One Piece Season 2 won’t cover the main Alabasta arc, we shouldn’t expect to see Joe Manganiello’s Crocodile come to blows with Iñaki Godoy’s Luffy, unless the live-action version decides to include an extra fight. Still, with the way Manganiello is talking, I’m hopeful this means next batch of episodes will dedicate enough time to exploring what makes this baddie tick, and then in Season 3 (which hasn’t been greenlit), we can really get into the meat of his characterization. I also share in my colleague Mick Joest’s wish that Manganiello’s Crocodile shares scenes with Jeff Ward’s Buggy the Clown in Season 2, even though those two didn’t meet until much later on in the One Piece manga and anime.
Other newcomers who will be featured in One Piece Season 2 include David Dastmalchian’s Mr. 3, Katey Sagal’s Dr. Kureha, Sendhil Ramamurthy’s Nefertari Cobra, Charithra Chandran’s Miss Wednesday and Callum Kerr’s Smoker, among many others. Although the next season doesn’t have a premiere date set yet, it’s likely to arrive sometime in 2025. You can keep yourself entertained until then by scanning through the other best shows on Netflix that can be watched now.
