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[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfrom[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfrom one piece Season 2.]
When the show explodes the way Netflix adapts it to live action one piece Exploding in 2023, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that a string of Hollywood blockbusters will soon follow. Not to mention, the original manga, created by Eiichiro Oda and first published in 1997, has already been such a global phenomenon in its nearly three decades that it’s now almost synonymous with the Japanese publishing medium. In many respects, Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew are not only household names (or at least very well-known faces) within American geek culture thanks to both existing manga and anime, but sometimes even among those whose interests do not favor the titans that are Japanese industries.
So, when Netflix announced cast additions for Season 2 in 2025, it wasn’t surprising to see a number of familiar faces. Among them was Katey Sagal, the queen of the small screen known for playing bold, colorful, fierce and sometimes cruel women. Although she is not a regular in major projects, she has received the most professional acclaim and awards for her roles in… Married…with children, 8 simple rules, Sons of Anarchy and RebelsAs well as long-running adult animation Futurama -Her choice has been fully embraced one piece Fans.
Sagal’s portrayal of Dr. Kureha was equally exciting for both the team and the actress Hollywood Reporter She was first approached in the spring or summer of 2024. “There was no audition. It was an offer. I was so excited. You get jobs where you’re like, ‘Oh my God,'” she recalls. “It came pretty much after I watched it [the first season]. It was a great call to get. I was out of my mind. Then they started sending me pictures of who the character was.”
one piece “We reached out to her, and she had watched the first season with her family, and she had no idea it was an adaptation of anything,” recalls Season 2 showrunner Joe Tracz. “She just thought it was a really good show on Netflix. The fact that the show existed and proved that it could work in this live-action adaptation meant that we were able to reach the people who were on our vision board.”
Her early connection to the series was thanks to her husband, prolific TV creator Kurt Sutter. “I wasn’t very familiar with the manga at all. The anime – which is like that Pokemon? -I’ve raised children all over the place Pokemon. She was Pokemon Freaks. “But manga I didn’t know,” she says. THR. “My husband came home one day and said he was talking to someone at Netflix and asked him to watch this show one piece. So we sat down with my 17 year old son. We didn’t know what it was going to be, and we couldn’t stop watching it. This first season was very warm and exciting. It hit all the right notes for me, my husband, and our 17 year old. “It was beautiful.”
Sagal plays Dr. Kureha, a 140-year-old doctor who becomes the only practitioner on Drum Island after the other doctors are captured by King Wapol (Rob Colletti), a tyrannical leader whose self-important nature and erratic tendencies have crushed his once-prosperous kingdom. Kureha, called “The Witch” by the townsfolk, operates out of the abandoned Drome Castle, which sits atop a mountain overlooking the city. There, she reluctantly trains a young, talking reindeer named Tony Tony Chopper (Michaela Hoover, Nkun Mamitja, Gavin Gomez), who becomes her ward of sorts after the death of her eccentric and sentimental friend and colleague, Dr. Hyreluk (Mark Harelik).
While Sagal walked in knowing very little about Kureha, she was immediately drawn to the character. “She was very strong, and also warm-hearted and a little squishy on the inside. I found her young in spirit, even though she was supposed to be 140 years old. And what does time really mean?” She says. “I liked that she was an older woman who kept it together and wasn’t afraid to wear tight shirts.”
Her transformation into the character was largely shaped by costumes, hair, and props, and her final presentation was largely dictated by Oda’s vision. “He told me all about it, and it wasn’t hard to find her in all of it,” she says. THR. “I’m always a person who likes to work materially. I love my wardrobe. Shoes are very important to me. The moment I saw that leather suit, I said, ‘I So Get this. And my wardrobe is exactly what it is in the manga, right down to the glasses on my head and the bottle. It was really fun to see it come to life. It’s rare to see an animated version translate well to live action.
But stepping into her character’s shoes wasn’t the only thing Sagal probably had to get used to as part of her one piece Being. Sagal notes that with one piece“The world is so big” compared to other projects I’ve worked on. But her younger colleagues are “all so wonderful, all so welcoming,” and along with the scripts, they lent themselves to moments that were not only very intimate, but character- and relationship-driven.
“That’s what makes it work. I was very emotionally moved by that first season, and then when I got the second script, it wasn’t overdone as there was a lot of humanity. That’s something I always relate to,” she explains. “So it wasn’t like overacting in a way you might think. It was very grounded. The writing was very good, and that’s really what you’re looking for. Especially when it’s a larger-than-life character, as they all tend to be. What I responded to, even when I first saw it. It’s very real. I just bought Luffy’s entire journey. I bought the Nami thing and the Sanji thing. You’re always looking for touchstone, and it was on the page.”
In Season 2, one of the most important events is Dr. Kureha’s journey with Hyrilok, Chopper, and Wapol. When it comes to Chopper’s story, “I will say I relate to it,” Sagal says. “Everyone has a different love language, and Kureha is used to being alone. She’s used to it. So when Chopper comes into her life, as much as she doesn’t want him to come into her life, he just pulls at her heartstrings. It’s so sincere. To me, the sadness she feels when he leaves is justified. You kind of watch over her, even against her own will, and care about Chopper. She loved Hurlock. She loved him, and he’s gone, and she’s put up with it, and now Chopper is leaving, too.”
As for Wapol, the tyrant who, among many edicts, ordered all of the island’s doctors to be arrested, exiled, or killed, the depiction of Kureha’s stand against him alongside the Straw Hats – protecting the role of care and science workers, even as they both seemingly became evil on Drum Island – “was satisfying.”
“It was a really weird situation that Wapol presented when he banned all the doctors from Drum Island, and she and Hyreluk were the only ones who more or less survived,” Sagal says. “Is it modern? Did it hit those notes? Absolutely. Prohibition, segregation, immigrants – all of it. I don’t know what happened first because I don’t know when I wrote the story of Drome Island, but the story of tyranny and big bad guys wanting to take power is very old. So it seems like a coincidence, even though I don’t really believe in a coincidence, that it’s all going to happen at the same time. The story of fighting against this tyrannical person is a coincidence, even though I don’t really believe in a coincidence.” “In time, Yes, the spirit of that was definitely there. “She’s also a doctor who helps people. She has a difficult way of explaining it, but she’s full of noble intentions.”
The Season 2 finale serves as a poignant tip-off to what will likely be Sagal’s most significant on-screen time as a live-action Kuhera, but the actress said she’s currently doing some “construction work.” “Vocal Aliq”, which refers to her time in one piece The universe didn’t quite end.
Meanwhile, when asked if she would venture further into manga after this role, she replied THR: “It opened my eyes. It’s not like I’m in a rush to watch or read, but I might as well. Live action is very attractive to me and it’s where I come from, even though I’m very involved in anime on futurama, And I love Futurama. So I will never say never.
one piece Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
