Emily Rudd Fought for Years to Join One Piece—But Mackenyu Landed His Role in a Surprising Way

If you think casting for a big-budget anime adaptation is always a super-serious, coordinated process, think again. The story behind how Emily Rudd and Mackenyu landed their roles in Netflix's One Piece live-action is basically a masterclass in how two people can have wildly different audition journeys—and both end up on the Straw Hat crew. One's all sweat, hustle, and Youtube gymnastics; the other's a 'sure, why not?' comedy of coincidence.

Emily Rudd: The Nami Grindset

Let’s start with Emily Rudd, who plays Nami. You know all those times fans insisted Netflix must have cast her because everyone was fan-casting her online? Yeah, not exactly what went down. Emily basically spent three years doing everything she possibly could to transform herself into Nami. We’re talking full-on commitment: changing her look, practicing backflips for the inevitable action scenes, posting videos online—she wanted to make sure people saw her as Nami. If that doesn’t sound like something Nami would actually do to get what she wants, I don’t know what does.

Here’s how Emily put it in a now-viral post: she didn’t just get noticed out of nowhere. She put in the work, subtly but relentlessly, so by the time the fandom was "sure" they were the reason she got picked, she’d already sold herself to the production with pure grind. Honestly, kind of wholesome.

'I worked hard for three years, transformed into Nami, posted videos of myself doing backflips—anything to get on the crew’s radar and show I was right for the role.'

Mackenyu: 'Wait, Which Role Is This?'

If Emily was hustling for years, Mackenyu’s entry as Zoro kinda sounds like a sitcom episode. To paraphrase: he’s a longtime fan of One Piece, but when the offer first landed, he was busy shooting Saint Seiya (for Knights of the Zodiac) in Hungary. He actually turned Netflix down just to focus on his first Hollywood lead role.

That didn’t stop the One Piece team from chasing him a second time. This time, Mackenyu was intrigued, but only on one condition: he wanted to know the role first (because yes, no one told him up front). When they finally revealed it was for 'Roronoa Zoro,' his response was practically instant: “I’ll do it!” Done deal.

He tells this story at every opportunity and, honestly, it never stops being funny. Unlike Emily’s marathon, Mackenyu’s audition arc was a five-minute sprint… All signs point to original author Eiichiro Oda wanting a Japanese actor for Zoro, preferably one who could handle lines in both Japanese and English. Mackenyu fit the bill, and, let’s be honest, might have effectively been hand-picked.

'They asked if I wanted to audition, I said only if I knew the role. “It’s for Zoro.” I said, “I’ll do it!”'

Different Vibes for the Straw Hats

The contrast between these stories is pretty wild—on one side, you've got what could basically be a Shonen hero's journey (Emily's long-game hustle), and on the other, it's almost like Mackenyu manifested the job by just existing at the right time and saying 'sure, what the heck'.

Who’s Up Next? New Cast, New Stories

Season 2 of One Piece live-action is already in the pipeline, with new faces joining the Grand Line adventure. Here are the new cast and some need-to-knows:

• Charithra Chandran as Vivi
• Lera Abova as Nico Robin
• Mikaela Hoover as Chopper
• …plus a handful of others the show is keeping under wraps

The actual stories behind their casting haven’t really hit the spotlight yet—not like Emily’s or Mackenyu’s have, anyway. I’d love to hear if any of them had to, say, learn to bend their limbs backward (Chopper?), or just happened to pick up the phone at the right millisecond.

For the basics, here’s a quick cheat sheet for the upcoming season:

Title: One Piece Live-Action Season 2
Release Date: March 10, 2026
Creators: Matt Owens and Steven Maeda
Original Author: Eiichiro Oda
Studio: Tomorrow Studios and Netflix
Where to Watch: Netflix (when it drops)

One Piece live-action Season 1 is still up exclusively on Netflix, if you want to catch up before March 2026. And if you want more behind-the-scenes stories as wild (or strange) as these, stick around—or sound off below if there’s a cast story you’re dying to know.