Interview: Tom Hyndman on Adapting Eiichiro Oda's Pirate Epic into a Netflix LEGO Special

Tom Hyndman Netflix Lego One Piece Interview

Picture: Tom Hyndman, the writer, showrunner, and executive producer of LEGO One Piece

The LEGO universe has officially collided with the Grand Line in Netflix’s brand-new two-part special, LEGO One Piece. We recently sat down with Tom Hyndman, the showrunner, writer, and executive producer, to discuss translating Eiichiro Oda’s epic pirate adventure into brick form, collaborating with the live-action cast, and more.

Tom Hyndman is currently the Executive Producer and writer of LEGO One Piece at Netflix. Prior to that, he was a producer on Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the anime epic One Piece. Tom was also part of the writing team for the first four seasons of HBO Max’s critically acclaimed Harley Quinn.

Set sail with Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper in this two-part animated LEGO® special! Join the Straw Hat Pirates as they navigate the treacherous Grand Line in search of the One Piece. Along the way, they’ll battle a crazed pirate clown, marines, fishmen, and a criminal syndicate. This epic adventure is narrated by the crew’s most unreliable storyteller, Usopp, who brings his signature dramatic license along for the ride.

So when did you first learn about the LEGO One Piece series?

I want to say, and my dates might be a little off, sometime around, like, November of 2024? That’s when it was brought to my attention, and there were some logistics to figure out, given all the parties involved. Then I think we had our first meeting sometime around February 25? And then from there on, it kind of kicked into gear, and we really got going.

Chopper has a lot of childlike wonder and innocence, and beyond being the newest member of the crew, what else makes him the perfect companion to serve as Usopp’s co-narrator?

I think it’s really his reactions, and maybe a little bit of his gullibility to a certain extent. Initially, Chopper is just excited and interested to hear all of these stories, whereas some of the other characters who’ve already lived through them are a little more blasé. But once it gets going, Chopper starts to read into Usopp’s tall tales and understands they might not be completely true, but they can still have fun with them.

It just seemed like a good story engine for the end of season two. We’re headed to Alabasta, and Chopper just joined. It seems like a logical question for him to ask, ‘So, what did you guys do before this?’ It fit in pretty perfectly. What we were trying to do was tell the same story a little bit differently, with a little more flair, and it just made sense.

Chopper And Usopp Lego One Piece Netflix

Voice acting in animation is an entirely different kind of performance compared to a live-action set. How did the cast adjust to delivering those big, high-energy moments using just their voices?

Thankfully, because they’ve been living with these characters for five years at this point, the adjustments were never that big. It was just bringing a little bit more animated energy, and they all pretty immediately understood what that meant. Usopp’s a big energy character too, so you can say, ‘Yeah, go higher than you’ve ever thought about going.’ It all worked out really well, and it was quite easy to get them where we needed them in all the recordings. There wasn’t much heavy lifting to try to modulate it, because with LEGO, you can’t really ever go over the top. It’s almost impossible, so we could just say, ‘More, more, more!’ That was pretty much the only note that we would give: just a little more energy.

LEGO completely plays into the humor of the manga and anime, so there’s plenty of crossover there.

Exactly. They’re all so entwined in every version of One Piece. Obviously, the anime is a little more over the top than the live-action, and they’ve all watched that and read the manga. So they already have an idea in their head, and it’s really just giving them the green light to go for it.

Which villain from the One Piece universe do you think would make the best comedic LEGO boss fight?

I think Wapol is the biggest, goofiest character that we could work with. He’s this incredibly confident, for no real reason, loudmouth type who does have a frightening ability that can hurt Luffy—even though he never really does. I was excited about adding that humor because he’s already kind of funny. Getting to add on to that, when you already have a template of, ‘All right, I get what this guy is, and now I can really go for it with him.’ I thought that was quite fun.

I thought the same with Buggy as well. I think Jeff [Ward] brought that same sort of humor. He’s very well in tune with his character.

Yeah, there wasn’t much work to do to get Buggy Legoized. Jeff was very funny. In all the recordings, we were kind of figuring out the most ridiculous way to go with it. It was fun because I’ve lived with Buggy for two seasons now—especially a lot in the first. So it’s really just continuing that journey with Buggy into LEGO, rather than finding super different or new ways to play with him. The character just translates. There is no real ‘go bigger’ on Buggy; he’s as big as he can be, and that’s what you want him to be.

&Quot;Lego Clown Pirate Minifigure With Blue Pigtails, Orange Pirate Hat, And Swords, Standing On A Stage With Dramatic Lighting And Two Other Minifigures In A Colorful, Theatrical Environment.&Quot;

With One Piece already having such a massive global fanbase, this special is bound to attract many newcomers simply because it’s LEGO. How did you strike that narrative balance between honoring what existing fans love and setting up expectations for a new audience?

With new fans, we want to make it as accessible as possible. Obviously, the goal is to have them go back to all the versions of One Piece, but not everyone has a lifetime to read the manga or watch the anime.

This is a way to give them a little nibble in an easily digestible way to make them realize how cool it is, so they feel okay about dedicating themselves to catching up. Also, One Piece can be a little violent, so having a younger demographic be able to watch it is great. The number of text messages I’ve received from friends saying their kids are losing their minds because they love LEGO—it’s an easy way to get them involved.

Then, for the fans that have seen it a million times, our hope is that we’re telling it in a slightly different way so it doesn’t just feel like a carbon copy. Even though you love that story, you can justify spending time watching this because there’s more in it for you. With the jokes and seeing how Usopp tells his version of it, we just hope they have a lot of fun with it and pick it apart in a good way.

Straw Hat Pirates Lego One Piece Netflix

Lastly, as a writer and showrunner, what’s been the most fulfilling part of working on LEGO One Piece?

The collaboration with our director, Chelsea Kerr, and the artists has been incredible. The final product is so much better because Chelsea and the artists found interesting ways to do things—jokes that I never would’ve thought of, because they’ve already worked on a bunch of LEGO projects. Everybody who worked on it was such a huge fan.

I wouldn’t say I’m the most knowledgeable One Piece person, so having everyone be a huge fan was very helpful. We just said, ‘If there are any Easter eggs you guys want to throw in, do it,’ and the special got filled up.

I think the coolest idea Chelsea had was to add a 2D animation aspect into the episodes to meld our version of LEGO with the manga. We wanted to give it that artwork and set it apart from other LEGO properties to make it pop, and I think it looks really cool. Some of the backgrounds are digitally matte-painted, so they’re not ‘LEGO-y,’ and it’s cool that LEGO got it immediately. I’m a little biased, but I think it makes it a little cooler than other LEGO things—no offense to any other LEGO thing.