Netflix's One Piece Live Action Season 2 announces Nefertari Cobra's casting

Modified Aug 22, 2024 14:43 GMT

Netflix's One Piece Live Action Season 2 announces Nefertari Cobra's casting. (Image via Toei Animation)

Thursday, August 22, 2024 saw One Piece Live Action Season 2 continue to make good on its promise of cast announcements by revealing who will be playing Nefertari Cobra in the series. This will be none other than Sendhil Ramamurthy per the official X (formerly Twitter) account for Netflix’s live action adaptation of mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s original series.

The news of Ramamurthy’s casting comes just one day after the announcement of Katey Sagal as Dr. Kureha and Mark Harelik as Dr. Hiriluk in One Piece Live Action season 2. Per Oda’s latest message on the second season of the Netflix series, fans can expect one more day of casting announcements tomorrow, Friday, August 23, 2024.

One Piece Live Action Season 2 casts The Office actor in key role for Season 2’s events

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While Sendhil Ramamurthy may be the newest One Piece Live Action Season 2 actor to join, he’s far from inexperienced. One of his most recognizable starring roles is on Heroes as Dr. Mohinder Suresh, starring in all four seasons of the original series and reprising it in the 2015 sequel, Heroes: Reborn. One of Ramamurthy’s most recognizable guest roles is as Ravi on The Office, appearing in three episodes as Kelly Kapoor’s new boyfriend in Seasons 8 and 9.

Beyond this, Ramamurthy has extensive theatrical credits working in London’s West End, the Soho Repertory Theatre, and the MAnhattan Theatre Club. Filmwise, Ramamurthy has most significantly voiced Simon Masrani in Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape, and most recently starred in the Hindi film Do Aur Do Pyaar. Additional notable television credits include regular roles on CSI: Miami, New Amsterdam, The Flash, and more.

While Ramamurthy hasn’t worked in a live action anime adaptation before, the range presented by his filmography suggests there’ll be no problems adjusting to the new environment. Combined with the fact that Ramamurthy also looks the perfect part for Cobra, it’s clear to see why Tomorrow Studios, Netflix, and the series’ production staff decided to go with him as Cobra.

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As for tomorrow’s final casting announcement in this latest string, two characters stand out as most likely to be revealed in Nefertari Vivi and Tony Tony Chopper. These are some of the biggest characters in the entire season, and fans are likewise curious to see what direction is gone for them. This applies to Chopper specifically, as fans are unsure of what approach will be taken in terms of practical versus special effects for his character.

Season 2 serves as the continuation of Netflix’s live action adaptation of Oda’s original manga series. Oda’s original manga began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in July 1997, where it is still ongoing and regularly serialized today, but progressing through its final saga.