Netflix’s 10/10 Fantasy Series Is Making Every Other Streaming Franchise Look Small

Although there is plenty of competition to see which streaming service can produce the most successful fantasy franchise, one Netflix show can comprehensively claim to be the biggest when it comes to pure lore. Although Netflix’s Stranger Things franchise is now a sprawling multimedia venture that spawned the most expensive season of TV ever made in 2025’s season 5, the small-town mystery show’s ambitions still look quaint compared to the more recent fantasy franchises launched by rival streaming services.

There is HBO’s Game of Thrones universe, which, thanks to the spinoffs House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is one of the biggest adaptations in TV history. Prime Video’s Critical Role shows The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein, both adapted from an actual play Dungeons and Dragons podcast, are a recent attempt to rival the style of that gritty series, but HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot will be bigger than both earlier franchises.

However, even as Prime Video’s The Rings of Power brings the immersive world of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings franchise to the small screen, there is still one Netflix franchise that can outdo all of these shows when it comes to the sheer depth of its in-universe lore. 2023’s One Piece saw Netflix take on the challenge of adapting one of the most ambitious media franchises ever as a live-action show, and the acclaimed series has only started to scratch the surface after two seasons.

One Piece’s Endless Lore Will Grow Even Bigger In Later Seasons

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is one of the most popular manga and anime properties in the history of both formats. An utterly unique blend of cartoonish character comedy, fantasy, horror, and adventure, One Piece focuses on the misadventures of the cursed pirate Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. This might sound simple enough, but One Piece’s sprawling cast of characters makes the world of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones seem downright sparse.

One Piece set the Guinness world record for “most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author,” which should give readers an idea of how massive the manga’s back catalog is. With 14 animated feature films, an OVA, and a whopping 114 volumes to date, the franchise shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Indeed, the expansive world of the series is one of the elements that is most often singled out for praise by fans and critics.

Soon, future seasons of One Piece will make the show’s world even more complex, with time travel storylines involving characters like Toki as well as genuine gods like Nika expanding the possibilities of what can happen in the series. While One Piece season 2 was as acclaimed as its predecessor, the show’s sheer scope proves that it will be a challenge to keep its story in order as the series continues.

Netflix’s One Piece Is Actually Deepening Oda’s Lore

Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Fortunately, Netflix’s One Piece adaptation has already started to work around this unavoidable reality. By adding characters like Sabo and Bartolomeo early, the show is making the world of its story feel even bigger, even sooner, meaning major storylines won’t come as sudden surprises. The show doesn’t bounce between unrelated characters as much as many similarly ambitious fantasy hits, like Game of Thrones.

As such, One Piece needs a unique approach of its own to handle the sprawling size of the franchise’s ever-expanding mythology. Luckily, Netflix’s One Piece worked out how to tackle this early on by incorporating elements of the show’s future stories into its early seasons so viewers unfamiliar with the manga aren’t entirely blindsided by their arrival later on in the show.

Release Date

August 31, 2023

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Matt Owens, Steven Maeda, Joe Tracz

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  Iñaki Godoy

  Monkey D. Luffy

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