The second season of One Piece live-action is getting ready to once again make an impact on the fans, but this time the story and the cast are a little different. As fans know, the creators of One Piece live-action recently revealed that Joe Manganiello will join the series as the infamous Crocodile, the leader of the Baroque Works and one of the biggest villains in the entire narrative.
While Manganiello looks perfect for the role of Crocodile, some fans had little doubt about whether he had the knowledge about the enticing One Piece world or the character of Crocodile. However, the actor recently proved that not only does he know about Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, but he also has a decent knowledge of Crocodile’s character.
After the casting of Manganiello was officially revealed to the One Piece fans during Geeked Week 2024, he was interviewed by the showrunner of the live-action series, Matt Owens. During the interview, Manganiello disclosed a side of Crocodile’s character that many fans didn’t know about.
Joe Manganiello’s Preparation for Crocodile’s Role
After Geeked Week 2024, Netflix released a video where Owens was seen talking with the new cast of the upcoming One Piece season. During the discussion, Owens asked Manganiello about what kind of research he did for the role of Crocodile and what his understanding of Crocodile as a villain was.
Manganiello stated:
I have like tables and shelves full of all these different versions of Crocodile to look at while I’m, you know, going through this material. But I mean, for me, a lot of it is, it has to be real. And especially when you’re playing a character that people want to call a villain, It’s like, well, he just has different intentions. And a different path. Than some of the other characters.
Manganiello thinks that Crocodile is only a villain in the eyes of other people. He just has different intentions than other characters and for that, he has been termed as an antagonist.
Thus, Manganiello needs to feel all these emotions and make them real, which is why the actor has been going through different versions of the character. He wants to understand the path of Crocodile and work on it the same way.
Joe Manganiello Might Know More About Crocodile Than Anyone Else
During the discussion, Joe Manganiello talked about Crocodile and his ideology as a One Piece character. According to him, Crocodile is just a darker version of Luffy’s future that went through a lot of suffering and pain and thus wants the same thing for others as well.
Manganiello stated:
But what I found, he is this 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.
Manganiello’s knowledge about Crocodile’s ideology and principles even startled Matt Owens. This proves that the actor is ready to portray the character and will surely do justice to the upcoming season.
As the second season follows the Albasta Saga, Crocodile’s character holds major importance because he would be the main antagonist of the season. One Piece fans have big expectations and it looks like Manganiello will live up to these expectations.
One Piece live-action is available to watch on Netflix.
