Netflix's One Piece Finally Confirmed Who Is Playing Luffy's Brother Ace, But There's One Part I'm Bummed About

One Piece Season 2 is coming to the 2026 TV schedule, and I'm absolutely psyched to see it. That was before the latest news that the series finally cast its actor for Portgas D. Ace, the brother of Monkey D. Luffy. It's a great day to be a fan of the live-action anime adaptation, but there is a slight bummer to all this news.

For those who don't know, Ace is a big deal in One Piece. It's a good thing, then, that the Netflix series found the perfect actor to play him, though we'll have to wait a while to see him in action.

Netflix Confirmed Xolo Maridueña Is Playing Portgas D. Ace

In what may be the series' worst-kept secret ever, former Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña will be Ace in the live-action One Piece. The news was rumored back in July of 2024, when an actor involved in the production heard Maridueña was involved. Netflix leaned into the rumor with videos of the actor with the cast, but Maridueña recently dismissed the casting rumor. In fairness, I was on the record as not believing him, and my instincts were spot on.

Still, it would be wild if Xolo Maridueña didn't have the role of Ace at the time, and it was the rumors that ultimately led to this happening. That said, I'd also be floored to learn that was the case since Netflix had hinted at the casting for so long.

Ace Won't Join The Straw Hats Until Season 3

Now for the bummer news: we're not going to see Xolo Maridueña as Ace until One Piece Season 3. While the new season is confirmed, it's still a ways off, so we won't actually see the actor inhabit the role until 2027 or later.

The news isn't entirely surprising to me, especially as someone who has watched the anime. Ace only had a brief appearance at the end of the Drum Island arc and doesn't really come into the story until the Alabasta arc is underway. With Season 3 confirmed to be the arc where Alabasta really gets going, it would track that he won't show up until then.

One thing I should warn One Piece fans about who haven't watched the other shows, don't expect to see a lot of Ace While he's an important character in the story, like many supporting characters in One Piece, his scenes in the anime and manga are fast and fleeting. That said, the live-action adaptation gave bigger storylines to smaller characters in Season 1, so maybe we'll see Netflix do the same thing with Ace.

One Piece Season 2 is coming to Netflix on March 10th, and I'm counting down the days until its arrival. I'm also eager to hear how long it'll take until Season 3 is ready, because I don't want to wait as long as we did for this upcoming season.