Netflix’s LEGO ONE PIECE Has an Unreliable (But Fun) Narrator Tell a Classic Story

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With long-running manga and anime series, waves of merchandising, and an acclaimed live-action adaptation on Netflix, it’s safe to say that ONE PIECE remains a bona fide global phenomenon. Audiences will get to experience the beloved franchise like never before with the Netflix animated special LEGO ONE PIECE, poised to set sail on the streaming service on September 29. The two-part special boasts the main cast from the live-action Netflix series reprising their fan-favorite roles, with Tom Hyndman serving as showrunner and executive producer.

The special has Usopp (Jacob Romero) recount the events of the first two seasons of the live-action series, including how he met and befriended Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and joined his crew of Straw Hat Pirates. However, while detailing his seafaring adventures in search of the mythical One Piece, it becomes clear that Usopp might not be the most reliable narrator, especially for viewers in the know as to how things actually unfolded. All this is gorgeously rendered in an iconic LEGO brick style, with the Netflix special leaning into the family-friendly antics that LEGO projects are known for.

In an exclusive interview with Den of Geek, Tom Hyndman shares how he and the creative team reimagined creator Eiichiro Oda’s swashbuckling world to life in LEGO form, blending the signature themes and humor of ONE PIECE with the presentation and tone associated with the LEGO group.

Den of Geek: Tom, what’s your elevator pitch for LEGO ONE PIECE ?

Tom Hyndman: Shockingly, there are still people who don’t know what ONE PIECE is, so this is a way to bring a younger audience in and provide them with an easier way to get the general layout of at least the first two seasons of the live-action. A lot of it hits on the first 200 chapters of the manga. It can be a pretty big lift to really jump into ONE PIECE , so we’re hoping we can do it this way, where newer fans can get a real overview of the live action and what that is, with a little bit of fun and a little more humor.

For hardcore fans, hopefully, it’s a fun alternate version of the first 200 chapters or so, told from Usopp’s perspective, which is something that really drew me to the core concept of this, having worked on the first two seasons. It’s not just copying and pasting scripts from seasons one and two. We did a big change in a different perspective and had a lot of fun with it, but obviously kept the core of what ONE PIECE is the same, because that’s what makes it so wonderful, and such a worldwide phenomenon.

How did you thread that narrative needle between creating a standalone story while also creating something for newer viewers, introducing them to ONE PIECE  through LEGO minifigures and elements? 

The first step was to figure out what exactly we wanted to show in the two episodes. And then, building out from there is, how can we tell this in a new, fun way? That was step two. We have the new fun way that we’re gonna say this, we have these fun jokes, now let’s figure out what Easter eggs we can bring in or the things that weren’t in the first season that we could pop in, where people who really know about it are like, “Oh, I know about that!”

It’s a different perspective, and it brings a lot more humor into it and a lot more silliness. It’s just a little bit lighter than the live-action. It’s just a fun way to do it that hopefully can appeal to everybody, new and returning.

In shifting to Usopp’s perspective, how was it catering to more hardcore ONE PIECE fans who haven’t really seen that change in perspective before?

It was exciting to be able to tell the story where we’re keeping the core of it, but we could get a little fabulous.  Using LEGO elements, there’s a lot of fourth-wall breaking and being able to use that to keep things on track; that was the big thing. Usopp is going absurd, but if he’s doing it in front of any of the Straw Hats while telling the story, they will call him out and be like, “That never happened,” and then he’ll either change it back to what did happen or be like, “Well, that’s how I remember it.”

That was what pulled us to it. Jacob Romero is just so fun and really embodies that character, and so to let him cut loose with this new Usopp stuff definitely was also something that we were really looking forward to, because we know he could do such a phenomenal job at it.

Beyond Jacob, you’ve got the main cast reprising their roles for LEGO ONE PIECE, which really underscores how much of an organic extension this is. How was it shaping the story and tone of the special with that in mind?

It honestly made it a lot easier because you know they are all coming in embodying these characters already, so we didn’t have to really find anything. There’s some fine-tuning with the over-the-topness of LEGO humor. It was more just like, “Okay, you know the line. Just make it a little bit bigger, a little bit more ridiculous.”

My hope is that they also had a lot of fun doing this, and, from what I’ve heard when talking to them, they definitely did. It’s like playing the same character, but being able to throw a little different spin on it. It just shows that, yeah, it is part of the larger Netflix ONE PIECE world and the continuity of having Emily Rudd, Iñaki Godoy, Taz Skylar, Mackenyu, and Mikaela Hoover. It definitely de-stressed my whole situation of worrying if they were going to be able to pull this off. As soon as we knew everybody was doing it, it pretty much answered that question, and we could move on to how we were going to make this and write it.

ONE PIECE  is wacky and over-the-top, while LEGO animated specials have their own distinct sense of humor. How is it meshing those two sensibilities together into something cohesive?

It’s like an amp-up effect, where you get the story, and then write the first draft of the script, and the notes are always kind of like ‘how can we amp this up and make this a little bit more ridiculous?’

It is this three-step process of figuring out what the script looks like, going in and really fine-tuning every joke and every LEGO moment in every big action scene to really add to it and blow it all out. That is the opportunity that doing this as a LEGO special really lends itself to getting your creative mind just going everywhere. It’s really fun to just be like, “Can we do this? Yeah, we can, let’s try it out!”

The director and the storyboard artists were so phenomenal at finding things I would have never even thought of. It was also such a wonderful team effort to make this happen and to make it as aligned with the LEGO brand as possible.

With ONE PIECE so big and globally recognized, what is your guiding light or North Star in interpreting it in live action or in LEGO form?

The manga is definitely the North Star; everything comes from that. You want to honor it as much as humanly possible while still telling an interesting story that will bring in new people, and it’s not just a retread of everything. It was the same in the live action. We have this amazing thing, so how can we synthesize things, move things around, still respect every moment of it, and make it work? I think we did it really well in the live-action, and I hope people feel the same about the LEGO version.

It’s always honoring the manga and putting our own spin on it, but never losing sight of the manga, because I think that’s what made the live-action work so well. We weren’t changing huge things. We were sticking to the story, and then we were finding moments within that story to change it up a little bit, more because we can’t do a 100-hour first season of anything, and it’s the same with the LEGO specials. We’re trying to fit eight hours of television into 27 minutes, so how can we stick to the story and respect it and still cram it into everything? I think we really did a good job of doing that with everything that we did in these two episodes.

In the wider pantheon of the franchise, what do you hope people walk away with after watching LEGO ONE PIECE ?

The biggest hope would be that they click off the second episode and then immediately click into the live-action or start reading the manga. We want to spread it as far as possible, with this being the easiest way to dip your toes. Hopefully, it inspires people to really dive in, where you get a little taste of it, and then hopefully, love it and want to know everything about this, and then watch a million episodes of the anime or read a million chapters of the manga.

ONE PIECE , in all of its forms, has always been about a found family as the Straw Hats come together. How was it maintaining that emotional core in the LEGO special?

It’s challenging because of the crammed amount of time, but it’s not ONE PIECE  without it, so you have to do it. It was finding those very iconic moments, like Luffy getting the hat from Shanks, things like that, staying true to those moments. Right from the beginning, we had certain things that we wanted to hit, and we’re not going to mess with those things. It’s not going to be jokey. We want to honor those moments because they are so emotional and intrinsic to the greater story of this. Having those moments still play out in a 90% true fashion, without Usopp getting his hands on them, was a very important thing for us.

The found family is the whole thing. It’s just these people coming together, and the only way that they will achieve their dreams is by doing it together. This is not a solo thing. That is such a wonderful message, especially in the world today. That was definitely a big guiding light for us.

On a more personal note, when you look at the full breadth of ONE PIECE  and having gotten to play in that sandbox creatively, what does ONE PIECE  mean to you?

On a strictly personal level, it means just about everything to me, not necessarily even on like a story thing, but having been able to be involved in this has completely changed my life. I will never work on something with this kind of footprint ever again. It is such an honor and a privilege, but it’s also so much fun to get to do this. 

It’s a beautiful story, and now that I’ve been in the world a lot more, I know a lot more about it; it’s such a positive thing. I think we could use a lot more positive things. To spread that positivity is truly an honor and just a very cool thing to do.

LEGO ONE PIECE premieres Sept. 29, 2026 on Netflix.