In a surprising turn of events, it was recently revealed by many official social media handles for Netflix’s One Piece live-action that actor Xolo Maridueña will be portraying the character of Portgas D. Ace in Season 3. Considering that Season 2 has yet to be released, this has already hyped fans for the next installment.
ONE PIECE: Season 3 just got a whole lot hotter!! 🔥 We are beyond excited to announce that Xolo Maridueña will be playing the beloved Portgas D. Ace in the next stretch of our adventure! 😆 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MqrKjiZmGD
With the end of Cobra Kai and his much-awaited return as Blue Beetle in the DCU, the star has now bagged another high-profile role for his career resume. Along with more recognition, the star is also set to receive a high pay raise as he prepares for Netflix’s One Piece Season 3.
Netflix’s One Piece Is a Bigger Paycheck for Xolo Maridueña Than Cobra Kai
It was reported earlier that after Netflix took over the continuation of Cobra Kai, the paycheck that actor Xolo Maridueña received per episode was around $70,000, which spanned 6 seasons since 2018. Therefore, since 21 years age, the star has amassed a net worth of $2 million, including his role in Blue Beetle (via Celebrity Net Worth).
In comparison to Cobra Kai’s per-episode budget of $2-3 million (via What’s on Netflix), the One Piece live-action, in relation to the first season, has a staggering budget of $17 million per episode. This makes the production almost 6 times bigger than Maridueña’s last Netflix series.
And with the success of the first season, along with more complex and visual moments from the manga series by Eiichiro Oda yet to be adapted, the budget will increase even more. In addition, considering that the star plays Ace, one of the most prominent characters in the lore, Netflix will be shelling out a pretty chunk of change for Maridueña.
Iñaki Godoy and Xolo Maridueña Have Both on and Off-Screen Chemistry
In an interview on the Echale Podcast, the host brought up the point to Maridueña about him and Godoy being good friends in real life and asked whether they would want to work together in the future. Here, the star replied that he was a big fan of his friend’s work in the series, and said:
I’m looking for ways to work with Iñaki, both in and out of One Piece.
Their initial interactions with each other were first seen in a behind-the-scenes video from Netflix just before the release of the season finale of Cobra Kai. Here, Godoy was seen interacting with Maridueña in a classic Karate uniform, where they also surprisingly spoke in Japanese with each other. Their interaction actually made people realise they had chemistry.
And now, as they will be playing the role of brothers in the series, people have little doubt about their performance dynamics on-screen.
Here’s more information on Netflix’s One Piece.
Are you excited to see Xolo Maridueña as Ace in the upcoming season of Netflix’s One Piece? Tell us in the comments below.
One Piece Live Action is available to stream on Netflix (US).
