The live-action adaptation of One Piece on Netflix was an instant hit with anime fans and lauded by many for finally breaking the curse, hopefully ushering in a new golden age of adaptations. With the success of the TV series, its showrunner is already thinking which anime would be perfect for the next live-action adaptation – and eyes seemingly settled on Spy x Family.
In an interview with Comicbook.com, One Piece showrunner Steven Maeda talked about what projects he would like to tackle next. According to Maeda, Spy x Family, one of the best-selling manga series of all time, is an anime series he wants to work on. The showrunner is a big fan of the anime which is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
“I love Spy Family so much. It’s just wonderful,” Maeda said. “It’s funny you mentioned that one. I’ve been chasing Spy Family for a while.” [sic]
While there are no plans to tackle Spy x Family yet, it would be interesting to see the anime get the One Piece live-action treatment. There would definitely be some challenges in adapting the anime as a live-action TV series, but Maeda believes that there is enough source material to make a great TV show.
“I think there are so many wonderful stories,” Maeda explained. “It just has been, I think, difficult getting the crossover… [Anime] really is such wonderful source material. There are so many great manga and anime titles out there that tell these wonderful stories and they just haven’t been tapped yet. And so not every underlying piece of material needs a live action. But boy, it would be amazing to see some of them.”
Maeda’s track record with One Piece speaks for itself. The live-action adaptation of One Piece topped the Netflix charts for several weeks. A total of 37.8 million viewers streamed the TV series for 285.7 hours in the first two weeks alone. Interestingly, the show attracted a wide range of audiences with 25% Hispanic and 19% African American viewers.
This is a very high bar to meet, to basically take a storied manga and deliver it in English-language, live action,” Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters said. “Pretty much all the haters are out, looking for a reason to hate you for it. To be able to deliver it and have it be massively popular and a success around the world is amazing to see.”
Fans of Spy x Family will surely be excited to get a live-action adaptation from the team that made One Piece successful. For now, fans will have to wait for the pitch from Maeda to become a reality. In the meantime, Spy x Family is getting set to debut its second season this weekend and a full-length film will premiere in Japan this December.
Spy x Family is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
