General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Ninjago: Dragons Rising

Ninjago: Dragons Rising is an animated television series produced by the LEGO Group that continues the LEGO Ninjago franchise, following a new generation of ninja heroes in a world formed by the sudden merging of many legendary realms. It premiered on Netflix on June 1, 2023, alongside a matching line of LEGO construction sets, and is animated by WildBrain Studios using Epic Games' Unreal Engine.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	June 1, 2023, on Netflix and broadcast channels worldwide¹^•²
Premise	Many legendary realms have combined into one unstable world; a Spinjitzu Ninja Master trains new heroes to find Elemental Dragons before evil forces use the same dragon energy to destroy it¹
New characters	Ninjas Sora and Arin, and the baby dragon Riyu, join returning characters such as Lloyd²
Format	22-minute episodes; seasons of 20 episodes released in two 10-episode parts²^•⁴
Animation	WildBrain Studios, Vancouver, using Unreal Engine (version 5 from Dragons Rising onward)³^•⁵
Companion sets	15 Dragons Rising LEGO sets released in 2023, all since retired⁶
Planned run	Five seasons, ending with a final season titled Dragons Fury in 2027⁷

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The series begins with an event called the Merge, in which the sixteen mystic realms of Ninjago combine into a single unstable world. The union is unstable, and the original team of elemental ninja is scattered. Lloyd, the Green Ninja and a master of Spinjitzu, has to coach a fresh group of heroes in locating the Elemental Dragons able to rescue the planet, before evil forces can wield that same dragon energy to wipe out the new world.¹

The new leads are Arin, a self-taught Spinjitzu prodigy who lost his family in the Merge and now lives in the blended city known as the Crossroads; Sora, a friend from the oppressive Kingdom of Imperium with an unusual elemental power over technology; and Riyu, a baby dragon.²^•⁹ In the first season the trio uncover a plot by the Claws of Imperium, led by Ras, who hunt dragons throughout the Merged Realms and siphon their life force to empower the Kingdom of Imperium under the tyrannical Empress Beatrix; among the dragons targeted are the Source Dragons, beings of immense power.¹⁰

Later seasons continue the single overarching storyline. Season 2 centers on Lord Ras and the Wolf Clan and the power of Shatterspin; season 4, set after the portal gates separate the Ninja across the Merged Lands without their powers, follows their search for a way home while a hidden enemy unleashes Elemental Monsters.¹¹^•¹²

Background

Dragons Rising arrived after twelve years of the Ninjago franchise, which by May 2023 had run 15 television seasons and 215 episodes aired in 191 countries and translated into 26 languages, along with a 2017 feature film, video games, and more than 200 million LEGO Ninjago sets sold.² The LEGO Group described the series as a new era built on a world created from merged realms, bringing back well-known characters while introducing new ones. Nigel Kong, Head of Product for LEGO NINJAGO, said the direction followed research with children in 2021 showing they wanted dragons front and center in the new story.²

Trade coverage described the change as a semi-reboot: the existing Ninjago universe had grown so large that there was no easy entry point for a new generation of viewers, and Asa Tait, head of production at LEGO's entertainment division and an executive producer on the show, called Ninjago the company's longest-running show.⁸ The reboot also let the creative team at WildBrain, the Canada-based studio that makes the series, raise production values by moving the show onto Unreal Engine, with art director Daniel Wang refining the animation.⁸

Release and seasons

Part 1 of season 1 aired in June 2023 as ten episodes of 22 minutes each, with part 2, another ten episodes, released in the fall; the season finale streamed from October 12, 2023.²^•¹³ This two-part structure became the series' standard: each season consists of 20 episodes released in two halves, with season 2 running April to October 2024, season 3 April to September 2025, and season 4 April 2 to September 3, 2026.⁴^•¹⁴ The series is distributed on Netflix in most regions, with additional availability on services such as Prime Video, Peacock, and the free service Tubi.¹⁵

At a 2026 San Diego Comic-Con panel, the show's writers confirmed that Dragons Rising was planned as a five-season, 100-episode story, with the fifth and final season, titled Dragons Fury, to follow in 2027; LEGO has indicated the Ninjago franchise itself will continue beyond it.⁷

LEGO sets and other media

The Dragons Rising product line launched on June 1, 2023, the same day as the show, on LEGO.com and in LEGO stores and other retailers. Sets range from small battle packs such as Kai and Ras's Car and Bike Battle (71789) to the Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores (71795), which includes six minifigures including Cole, Kai, and Nya.² BrickEconomy records 15 Dragons Rising sets released in 2023, all since retired, with a combined original retail price of $1,086 and a secondary-market value of about $1,328, a growth of 22 percent; the most valuable is NINJAGO City Markets (71799) at $444.87.⁶ New waves of sets have accompanied each later season, including 2026 sets tied to season 4 such as The Dragon of Life (71859, 1,050 pieces) and Lloyd's Titan Mech (71860, 1,293 pieces).¹⁶

The property has also extended into video games. On June 15, 2023, Bandai Namco Europe released a Dragons Rising level and content pack for LEGO Brawls, adding Sora, Arin, and 14 other minifigures as playable characters along with a Dragon Core control-the-point game mode.¹⁷ Print tie-ins include the book LEGO NINJAGO Read & Play Adventures: Ninja Duels, which features characters and themes from the series.¹⁸

Reception

Common Sense Media rated the series appropriate for ages 7 and up, noting fantasy violence and the franchise's tie to LEGO products, and judged that it requires some knowledge of Ninjago lore but stands alone well enough.⁹ On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 holds an 83 percent Tomatometer from a single reviewed critic, with a 3-out-of-5 review from Polly Conway of Common Sense Media.¹⁹ Aggregated episode ratings on GridRatings average 8.0 for season 1 and rise to 8.5, 8.6, and 8.9 across seasons 2 through 4, with the highest-rated episodes including "The Shatter Dragon" (S3E10, 9.5) and "Elements of Betrayal" (S2E20, 9.5).²⁰ Viewer discussion frequently credits the series with a marked improvement in animation quality over the preceding seasons of the franchise, a change attributed to the move to Unreal Engine 5.⁵

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Animated television series (individual series) › Children's animated adventure and fantasy series › Superhero and action-adventure series › Premiered 2017 to 2025

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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