Although Netflix’s Stranger Things proved the importance of a stellar ensemble cast sooner, it was a later fantasy series from the streaming service that outdid the show at its own game in this regard. The search for Netflix’s perfect Stranger Things replacement has gone on for years now. Sadly, it is hard for viewers to find any series that recaptures the unique blend of small-town mystery, character drama, and sci-fi horror thrills that made the original show so special.

Ironically, the shows that have come closest to successfully replacing Stranger Things haven’t been the ones that seem most similar to the series in their premises and plots, such as HBOMax’s darker Stephen King series It: Welcome to Derry or Netflix’s one-season wonder I Am Not Okay With This. Instead, it is bigger budget, mostly family-friendly shows that have managed to become as successful as Stranger Things, particularly for Netflix. Tim Burton’s Addams Family re-imagining Wednesday is one such show, as is another fantasy hit that borrows heavily from the Stranger Things playbook.

Beginning in 2023, One Piece is a live-action fusion of fantasy, comedy, adventure, and even some horror based on the long-running manga and anime franchise by creator Eiichiro Oda. Although the show’s story mostly focuses on the madcap misadventures of the Straw Hat Pirates and their ostensible leader Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece has almost as huge a sprawling cast as Stranger Things. This is a big part of the show’s appeal, but One Piece outdoes Stranger Things in a pivotal way here.

One Piece Borrowed Its Ensemble Cast Approach From Stranger Things

Both Stranger Things and One Piece have perfectly cast characters, which is all the more impressive when both shows have over a dozen main characters apiece. However, in the case of One Piece, this casting coup is even more impressive since fans have known these characters in manga and anime for over 20 years.

As such, it would have been incredibly easy for Netflix to inadvertently miss the mark. The massive One Piece franchise has a sprawling cast of characters that makes the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones and its spinoffs look small, and that cast is only continuing to grow along with the source material. One Piece set the Guinness World Record for “Most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author” years ago, and the manga is still ongoing.

Netflix’s Stranger Things Franchise Struggled Thanks To Its Ensemble Cast

As such, One Piece’s sprawling source material makes its ensemble cast a perfect fit for the series. In contrast, even though viewers loved all the main characters of Stranger Things, the massive ensemble ultimately came at a cost to the hit show. At the end of the day, Stranger Things was a horror series and, while it was never as dark as Netflix’s similar Fear Street movies, the series was meant to have some stakes.

As such, the show’s series finale earned some eye rolls when Mike, Dustin, Will, Max, Lucas, Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, Robin, Holly, Joyce, Hopper, Murray, and all the other supporting characters made it out of the ending alive, and even Eleven’s fate was left ambiguous. Furthermore, one of the biggest criticisms faced by the first Stranger Things spinoff, Tales from ’85, was its wholesale recasting of the main characters.

While Stranger Things has just as huge a cast as One Piece, the show’s lack of source material means that it is seemingly unable to move on from its original main characters. This makes the future of the Stranger Things franchise comparatively predictable, since the series can’t move beyond its core heroes. In contrast, unlike Stranger Things, Netflix’s One Piece can truly take advantage of its massive cast thanks to the sprawling fictional world of its story.

Release Date

August 31, 2023

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Matt Owens, Steven Maeda, Joe Tracz

Directors

Tim Southam, Marc Jobst, Josef Kubota Wladyka

Writers

Tiffany Greshler, Diego Gutierrez, Allison Weintraub, Lindsay Gelfand

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  Iñaki Godoy

  Monkey D. Luffy

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