Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once) has her eye on a specific role, and it looks like it might happen. The Oscar winner is lobbying to play the character Dr. Kureha on the second season of Netflix’s live-action series, One Piece.
The show stars Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, the main protagonist in the series, which is based on the world-renowned Japanese manga series and anime by Eiichiro Oda. And when the season 2 renewal for One Piece happened, Oda teased at another iconic character joining the Straw Hat Pirates, Tony Tony Chopper. Dr. Kureha is Chopper’s mentor and adoptive mother.
On Friday (September 22), Curtis posted her interest in portraying the character, an idea that was started by an online fan movement. “Once the strike against the greed of the AMTPT is settled with a fair contract, I will lobby along with the growing fan frenzy to become Doctor Kureha in [One Piece],” Curtis wrote, referencing the SAG-AFTRA strike.
In the comment section of her post, One Piece showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda responded that they were open to the idea. “Mommy dearest, that’s why we sent you that figure!” they wrote. “No need to lobby. Once we get what we deserve and get back to work let’s talk!”
Curtis followed her initial post with a video that shows her talking about One Piece even before the first season of the live-action series debuted. During promotion for Halloween Ends last year, Curtis tells an interviewer that her favorite One Piece character is Tony Tony Chopper and that her daughter, Ruby, thinks she should play Dr. Kureha.
If Jamie Lee Curtis ends up landing the role, chalk it up to serendipity.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, One Piece being covered here wouldn’t exist.