Jamie Lee Curtis is one of the most renowned names in the entertainment industry. She is known for her acting range and versatility, which have been followed by immense fame and accolades over the years, including an Academy Award for her role in the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

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Jamie Lee Curtis in Virus (1999). Credits: Universal Pictures

In her 47-year-long career and counting, she has played several iconic roles and does not intend to stop adding more under her belt. The True Lies actress was very eager to portray the role of Doctor Kureha in the widely acclaimed live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece.

However, in a tragic turn of events, that is no longer the case, and it has sent a temper tantrum in the fan community as they believed the 65-year-old actress to be the only one to play the role.

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Scheduling Conflict Forces Jamie Lee Curtis to Bid Adieu to Doctor Kureha’s Role

Netflix’s One Piece live adaptation has sailed on the ship of success after ending the live-action curse. The show has established itself as the greatest adaptation of all time, breaking the preconceived notions surrounding the live interpretation.

Dr. Kureha. Credits: Toei Animation

As a result, the show is all set to return for a second season, introducing more characters from the manga and anime. One of them is Doctor Kureha, an old doctor introduced on Drum Island. The old lady is Tony Chopper’s mentor and took him under her care after the death of Hiriluk.

In 2023, Jamie Lee Curtis dropped a surprising announcement on her Instagram on how, after the SAG-AFTRA strike, she would talk about helming the role of one of the allies of the Straw Hat Pirates. She shared an artwork of the character with a warm caption.

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The news generated a massive buzz among the One Piece community. However, in an unforeseen turn of events, it has now been confirmed by Deadline that the Freaky Friday actress will not don the rule in the upcoming season anymore due to scheduling conflicts with her other projects.

A still from One Piece. Credits: Toei Animation

It was heartbreaking to learn that Curtis will not play the role, as during the interview with the reputed news publisher, Becky Clements opened up about how the actress loved the show, but the lack of availability of dates made everything complicated. She said,

She loves the show. She has too many films and TV shows that she’s going into production on so our production dates aren’t going to work. She definitely wanted to do it but she’s got deals in first position, and it just became complicated.

The news broke the hearts of the fans because they believed that Curtis was meant to play the role, and social media exploded with the emotional outbursts of the viewers who were anticipating seeing the actress in the upcoming season of the series.

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Fans Break Down Over The News Of Jamie Lee Curtis Not Being a Part of One Piece Season 2

The news of Curtis not being a part of the second season of the show spread like wildfire all over the internet, and fans could not believe what they were reading. ScreenTime (@screentime) shared the news on X, which met with a tantrum from the fans who were looking forward to seeing her in the role.
A still from the Drum Island Arc. Credits: Toei Animation
As a result, the comment section of the post was full of sad tweets, believing that the series made a wrong choice by not letting her be a part of the series. The fans commented,

Look at both their faces!! They are twins. Whyyyyy !!! She was the only option yooooo… pic.twitter.com/FlX4M9WOFO

— Katlinaza (@katlinaza) July 19, 2024

Nevertheless, the show would probably look for an equally amazing name to portray the role of Doctor Kureha because none of them had anticipated the current circumstances that would hinder the TV series in such a manner.

Hence, for the time being, fans should wait for an official announcement to see who will ultimately bag the role.

One Piece can be streamed on Netflix.