Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Netflix’s One Piece Live Action showrunner Matt Owens both recently confirmed the superstar actor and wrestler will not be joining the cast in season two as Miss Monday, a member of Baroque Works. While no official reason has been given, 2D News sources have uncovered two big reasons as to why negotiations concluded.
The first reason being Dwayne Johnson’s insistence that Miss Monday had to win against Zoro in their battle. Most fans of The Rock know the actor hates losing fights on film, so it’s no surprise that was a non-negotiable requirement to joining the cast. Apparently, Matt Owens—during a conference call—asked Eiichiro Oda (creator of the One Piece manga of which the Netflix show is based on) if he’s okay with Zoro losing to Miss Monday.
After an excruciating long moment of silence, Mr. Oda—in English— answered “Hell to the no!” then hung up.
The second reason negotiations fell through was again due to the demands of Dwayne Johnson, this time wanting written into his contract that Miss Monday will star in her own eight-episode spin-off miniseries.
The proposal was to adapt Oda’s One Piece manga Barque Works cover story, Miss Goldenweek’s “Operation: Meet Baroque Works”, which takes place after the Straw Hat Crew leaves Whiskey Peak. Johnson also requested new additional scenes he thought would enhance the story such as Miss Monday fighting Red-Haired Shanks (a popular and powerful pirate)—as well as introduce a Miss Monday backstory where she challenges Mr. 0/Sir Crocodile to a race across Arabasta.
It was then, when Dwayne Johnson learned cars don’t exist in One Piece, where negotiations permanently broke down.
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