Picture: Xolo Maridueña (left) has been cast as Portgas D. Ace (right)
Some huge casting news for One Piece has been confirmed today, with the Cobra Kai actor Xolo Maridueña cast as Portgas D. Ace. The actor has long been rumoured to be playing Ace, and was also the fan favorite for the role. Xolo will join up with the cast of One Piece in season 3!
As fans get excited for the release of One Piece season 2 on March 10, 2025, by the time season 2 lands on Netflix, Tomorrow Studios will be several months into production on season 3, which begins at the end of November 2025. Throughout the production of season 2, we’re going to be hearing more and more casting news for One Piece season 3. Just recently, it was announced that Tony Award-winning actor Cole Escola had been cast as Bon Clay, aka Mr. 2.
He’s got the looks, he’s got the fighting experience, and he has the charisma; there are arguably few actors today more perfect for the role of Portgas D. Ace than Xolo Maridueña. Not to mention, for the majority of One Piece fans, Xolo has been top of the list to play Ace, so there will be plenty of fans feeling vindicated right now.
Portgas D. Ace is a high-ranking member of a powerful pirate crew and has been sailing as a pirate for two years longer than Luffy. He is the user of the powerful fire fruit and, most importantly, has deep ties to Luffy’s past.
Picture: Xolo Maridueña (left) and Portgas D. Ace (right)
Xolo Maridueña is an American actor best known and beloved for his roles as Miguel Diaz in Netflix’s Cobra Kai and Jaime Reyes in DC’s Blue Beetle. He even starred as King Tech in an episode of Wu-Tang: An American Saga. He has become a prominent voice actor, starring in multiple animated shows, including Netflix’s Fast & Furious Spy Racers, the English dub of Sakamoto Days, Amazon’s The Boys Presents: Diabolical, Invincible, and HBO’s Batwheels.
As we mentioned earlier in the article, Xolo has long been a fan favorite for the role of Ace, and Netflix helped fan those flames when Iñaki Godoy went behind the scenes of Cobra Kai season 6 back in September 2024. In the video, he spent most of the time accompanied by Xolo, and arguably, we saw our very first screen test of the pair together, closely resembling Luffy and Ace’s iconic side-by-side pose.
Picture: Iñaki Godoy with Xolo Maridueña (left) and Luffy and Ace (right)
Are you excited to see Xolo Maridueña in action as Ace in One Piece season 3? Let us know in the comments below!