The ninth season of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, subtitled Hunted, is preceded by Season 8 and succeeded by Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu and Season 10 and is the second part of the Oni Trilogy.^[1] It takes place a week after the events of Season 8. Though Wu is the mascot character, there is no focus character.^[2] Lord Garmadon is the intro character, he and Iron Baron serve as the main antagonists. The Sons of Garmadon and Dragon Hunters are the season's villainous factions.

Following the supposed demise of Wu and the original ninja, Lloyd and Nya resist Lord Garmadon's tyrannical control of Ninjago City. The original ninja are stranded in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, where they must save the dragons from the barbaric Dragon Hunters.

The season started airing in Australia and Singapore in late June 2018 with the sets being released on July 2 in Australia and August 1 in the United States. It was released early on the US Cartoon Network app, website, and On-Demand on August 10, 2018. It started airing in the United States on August 11, 2018, completed on August 25, 2018 in Australia and the USA.^[3]

Official description[]

While Lloyd and Nya resist Emperor Garmadon's oppressive hold on Ninjago City, Young Wu and the rest of the Ninja are stranded in a barbaric realm where fierce dragons are being hunted down by Iron Baron and his gang of Dragon Hunters. Lloyd must endure in NINJAGO City, the others need to find the fabled Dragon Armor if they ever hope to get back home to stop Emperor Garmadon once and for all.^[4]

Cast[]

• Arkade - Michael Donovan
• Chew Toy - Scott McNeil
• Child - Tabitha St. Germain
• Chopper Maroon - Sam Vincent
• Cole - Kirby Morrow
• Daddy No Legs - Ian James Corlett
• Dareth - Alan Marriott
• Edna - Jillian Michaels
• Faith/Heavy Metal - Kathleen Barr
• First Spinjitzu Master - Jim Conrad
• Garmadon - Mark Oliver, Kai Emmett
• Gayle Gossip - Kelly Sheridan
• Griffin Turner - Doron Bell Jr.
• Harumi - Britt McKillip
• Iron Baron - Brian Drummond
• Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
• Jet Jack - Rhona Rees
• Kai - Vincent Tong
• Karlof - Scott McNeil
• Killow - Garry Chalk
• Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
• Luke Cunningham - Michael Adamthwaite
• Misako - Kathleen Barr
• Mystake - Tabitha St. Germain
• Mohawk - Vincent Tong
• Mr. Pale - Kirby Morrow
• Muzzle - Brent Miller
• Neuro - Paul Dobson
• Nya - Kelly Metzger
• P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward
• Police Commissioner - Michael Donovan
• Ronin - Brian Dobson
• Scar the Skullbreaker - Michael Adamthwaite
• Shade - Andrew Francis
• Skylor - Heather Doerksen
• Tox - Maggie Blue O'Hara
• Ultra Violet - Maggie Blue O'Hara
• Wu - Madyx Whiteway, Paul Dobson
• Zane - Brent Miller

Episodes[]

Season Ep #	Series Ep #	Image	Episode name	Air Date
1	85		"Firstbourne"	June 30, 2018 (Australia)
2	86		"Iron & Stone"	July 7, 2018 (Australia)
3	87		"Radio Free Ninjago"	July 14, 2018 (Australia)
4	88		"How to Build a Dragon"	July 10, 2018 (Singapore)
5	89		"The Gilded Path"	July 11, 2018 (Singapore)
6	90		"Two Lies, One Truth"	July 12, 2018 (Singapore)
7	91		"The Weakest Link"	July 13, 2018 (Singapore)
8	92		"Saving Faith"	July 17, 2018 (Singapore)
9	93		"Lessons for a Master"	July 18, 2018 (Singapore)
10	94		"Green Destiny"	July 19, 2018 (Singapore)

Sets[]

Wu was the mascot character, and the black swirls around him form a dragon. The Dragon Armor was the collectible item. The majority of the sets in this wave focused on the Realm of Oni and Dragons half of the story.

The ninja are almost always portrayed with their masks on in the sets despite hardly wearing them in the season. A Destiny Wing and Firstbourne were both portrayed as Kai sets even though neither were specifically his in the series.

This was the first and only wave to feature Dragon Master flyers.

• 70650 Destiny's Wing
• 70651 Throne Room Showdown
• 70652 Stormbringer
• 70653 Firstbourne
• 70654 Dieselnaut
• 70655 The Dragon Pit
• 70658 Oni Titan

Flyers[]

• 70644 Golden Dragon Master
• 70645 Cole - Dragon Master
• 70646 Jay - Dragon Master
• 70647 Kai - Dragon Master
• 70648 Zane - Dragon Master

Trivia[]

• The Dragon Armor components are the collectible items featured in the season, though the First Spinjitzu Master's sword, the Dragonbone Blade, is the only piece of armor that has special abilities, as it attracts Elemental Powers.
• This is the second season where there are two villainous factions, and one of the four seasons to have more than one villainous faction overall.
  • The other seasons with two villainous factions are Seasons, 2, 11, and 12.
• This is the last season to be written by the Hageman Brothers.
• Tommy Andreasen said that they rewrote the ending, as well as scenes in some episodes, several times.^[5]
• A Japanese trailer was released on May 12, 2018.^{[citation needed]}
• The first English trailer, created by WIL Film and Tommy Andreasen, was released on May 27, 2018.^[6]
• A Southeast Asian trailer (for Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand) was released on June 11, 2018.^{[citation needed]}
• In the English trailer, Zane's voice lacks his robotic filter.
• The events of this season take place one week after the events of Season 8.^[7]
• Hunted was released in the summer of 2018, making it the second time two seasons aired fully in one year. The first time was in 2015 with Tournament of Elements in the spring and Possession in the summer.^[8]
• This season features a unique transition between scenes in all episodes, except for "Green Destiny." Whenever the scene switches to Ninjago, it switches with a short blast of Destruction and whenever it switches to the Realm of Oni and Dragons, it switches with a short blast of Creation.
• The fate of the Ultra Dragon was finally revealed in this season. It turned out that it had returned to the Realm of Oni and Dragons where Iron Baron eventually somehow captured and killed it, and used its skeletal remains for the base of his throne.
  • However, it is revealed that the ninja did not recognize the throne as the Ultra Dragon's remains, and never discovered this before going back to Ninjago or before Season 9 ended.^[9]
• The Stranded ninja's suits this season take their suits from the last episode of Sons of Garmadon but with added armor and battle-damaged elements.
  • As of the season finale, the ninja have returned to wearing their Resistance suits.
• Hunted does not have a specific main character, instead of focusing on the team as a whole. This is similar to Rise of the Snakes, where the four original ninja were the focus. It is also similar to Possession where the focus was said to be open to interpretation.
• This is the second season to not have Master Wu announce the episode title at the opening.
• 70651 Throne Room Showdown and 70658 Oni Titan are the only sets that take place in Ninjago City.
• This is the third season to air in Australia/New Zealand before the United States, the previous two being Rebooted and Sons of Garmadon.
• This is the third season to not have Serpentine since their debut, the first being Possession and the second being Sons of Garmadon.
• All of Hunted was released on the Cartoon Network US app, website, and On Demand on August 10, 2018. This is the fourth season to be put online before airing on television.
• When airing in the US, this season was split into "parts," one two-hour and two one-and-a-half-hour specials. With episodes 85-88 airing as "Hunted Part 1" on August 11, 2018, episodes 89-91 airing as "Hunted Part 2" on August 18, 2018, and episodes 92-94 airing as "Hunted Part 3" on August 25, 2018.
• Mr. E doesn't appear in the intro alongside Harumi, Ultra Violet, and Killow, foreshadowing his demise early in the season.
  • Instead, Ultra Violet appears to be wearing the Oni Mask of Vengeance in the intro, despite that never happening in the show.
• Most of the Elemental Masters from Tournament of Elements return in this season, including Griffin Turner, Shade, Neuro, Tox, and Mr. Pale, as well as Karlof and Skylor returning from The Hands of Time. They act on their promise from season four of helping the ninja by joining the Resistance.
  • Jacob Pevsner, Gravis, Ash, Chamille, and Bolobo are the only Elemental Masters to not appear in this season. Bolobo is revealed to have been arrested, and Chamille presumably became a villain, according to Karlof. The others' whereabouts are unknown.
    • Excluding Ash, these were the same Elemental Masters who, at the time of the season's release, did not have physical minifigures.
• This is the second season to not feature The Weekend Whip as the intro theme.
• For April Fools day, Tommy Andreasen posted a status on X with three events from Season 9, two of which are real and one of which is fake. The three events stated that the ninja will speak the language of the dragons, that Dareth will unlock his true power, and that there would be a talking rat.^[10] Additionally, the Hagemen Brothers joked that if Dareth didn't get a power, he would get a pet dragon.^[11]
  • A post from the Official Ninjago Facebook account included text in Ninjargon that translates to: "Dareth with the power of. . . ." hinting Dareth's powers.^[12]
  • When fans voted that the ninja would most likely learn the language of the dragons and that Dareth would least likely unlock his power, Andreasen said, "Well ... I guess we are not really that predictacle just yet ;-)"^[13]
  • Dareth temporarily gets an Elemental Power of "brown" from drinking one of Mystake's teas.
  • Mystake talks to Lloyd as a rat in "The Gilded Path."
  • By process of elimination, the ninja do not learn the language of the dragons.
• Tommy Andreasen had stated in an interview with Brent Miller that someone would die this season, though the identity of the character was not stated.^[14] Later, in "Iron & Stone", these characters were revealed to be Mr. E and the Ultra Dragon. In "Saving Faith", Harumi died and Mystake was killed off-screen by Garmadon.
• Jay had a mental breakdown sometime between Sons of Garmadon and Hunted, resulting in a seeming calmness in his manner in the first two episodes, "Firstbourne" and "Iron & Stone." He later went back to normal.
• In "Iron & Stone," Skylor revealed that her powers had come back.
• By the end of the season, Garmadon reveals that the reasons of his evil deeds was to protect Ninjago from the darkness he saw at the Departed Realm. Just before being taken away, he tells Lloyd of this evil and Lloyd believes it was the missing Oni who would be the darkness. This was later confirmed to be true in the following season.
• Before it was surpassed by Crystalized four years later, Hunted had the largest cast out of all the Ninjago seasons to date.
  • As such, it had the largest number of main female characters in a season.
• The plot of Hunted is comparable to the film Thor: Ragnarok, in which many characters have similar roles and plot devices are used in both.
  • Garmadon can be compared to Hela in which they both take over the main characters' home world and results in the main characters being transported to another location.
  • The Realm of Oni and Dragons is similar to the planet Sakaar in that the main characters are stranded in it for a long time, and the land has a scavenger society.
  • Iron Baron can be compared to the Grandmaster, in that they both rule a scavenger society and are vicious tyrants.
  • Faith can be compared to Brunnhilde/Valkyrie, in that they both are admired by the planet's ruler, and go by false identities and eventually aid the heroes to return to their homeworld.
  • Another similarity is that the main characters also have to fight in a gladiatorial arena.
• The last two episodes of Hunted has some structural similarities to the last two pilot episodes.
  • One member of the ninja (Wu and Kai) are lured away from their team by the main antagonist (Iron Baron and Lord Garmadon) to get collectible items for them (the Dragon Armor and the Sword of Fire) from a location inhabited by dragons (Firstbourne's nest with said dragon as well as others, and the Fire Temple with Flame). Both collectibles eventually end up in Wu's possession. However, unlike Lord Garmadon in the pilots, Iron Baron was defeated at the hands of Firstbourne.
  • The ninja are able to befriend dragons from their current realm and use them to cross over into another realm that is taken over by Garmadon and his underlings (the Sons of Garmadon in Ninjago and the Skulkin in the Underworld).
  • Following the end of the ninja's conflicts with Garmadon, a member in his his family predicts that Ninjago will be inevitably attacked again in the within the next seasons (Lloyd predicting that the Oni are on their way to conquer Ninjago, and Wu predicting that Garmadon will return to take over Ninjago). But unlike with Wu's prediction, Lloyd's one actually came true, whilst in the former's case, Garmadon teamed up with Wu and the ninja to stop the current threat.
• Jim Conrad joins the voice cast as the First Spinjitzu Master, marking this season as the first to feature the First Spinjitzu Master in a speaking role.
• Skylor's appearance slightly changed in this season. Her hair turned into a darker shade of red, and her mouth was moved slightly lower on her face. However, this was not reflected in her minifigure, which came in 70651 Throne Room Showdown, still with a bright red hairpiece and face similar to her previous figures.
• Neuro has a new hair piece in this season based on his hair piece used in 5004938 NINJAGO Minifigure Collection, the set that was released a year earlier.
• The Hageman Brothers stated that the major theme for this season is independence.^[15]
• Tommy Andreasen has stated that he stopped keeping track of the season numbers after this season.^[16][17]
• Throughout the season, Heather Doerksen is misspelled "Heather Dorksen," and Kathleen Barr is misspelled "Katleen Barr."

Focus characters[]

Protagonists[]

• There is no main character throughout and the season is a team season, focusing on the stranded ninja and Wu in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, and separately, Nya and Lloyd back in Ninjago City,
• Master Wu had a major role in the season and was the mascot, with many individual moments. His appearance is very frequent.
  • He was focused on in Episodes 89, 91, 93 and 94.
    • In Episode 89, he was shown to have grown older as a teenager.
    • In Episode 91, he struggled to follow Faith's instructions and temporarily gave up, but continued after speaking with Kai.
    • Wu was forced to take Iron Baron to Firstbourne in Episode 93 where he was given the Dragon Armor, earning the title of Dragon Master and allowing the ninja to return to Ninjago.
    • Wu, along with Lloyd, fight Garmadon in Episode 94, where he was eventually defeated.
• Lloyd has a great role as well, but his role in Season 8 is larger.
  • He is focused on in Episodes 87 and 94.
    • In Episode 87, he joins with the Resistance to infiltrate Ninjago's Radio Tower, where he gives a speech to the public.
    • In Episode 94, he and Wu fight Garmadon, where Lloyd ultimately stops him and gains his powers back.
• Jay has a much heavier role than in Season 8. He also has a larger role than other ninja.
  • He was focused on in Episode 88, where he reminisced of meeting Wu for the first time and came up with the idea of building a dragon.
• Nya also had some capacity in the show (like her reaction to losing her brother and her boyfriend in episode 85 and Nya versus Ultra Violet in episode 93). How she encouraged Lloyd to lead the Resistance is important as well in the storyline. Her relationship with Jay is touched upon in episode 85 and 94. She has a larger role in episode 85. As stated by Tommy Andreasan in an interview, her words in episode 85 are emotional.
• The relationship of Kai and Firstborne is one of the highlights in the season, especially in episode 88. In the Oni and Dragon storyline, Kai had a large amount of screentime since this season is a team season.
  • He was focused on in Episodes 88 and 91.
    • In Episode 88, Kai learned to befriend the captured dragons and freed them from the Dragon Hunters.
    • In Episode 91, Kai helped Wu with giving him confidence after he gave up, similar to how Wu taught the ninja previously.
• Cole and Wu had a closer relationship in Season 8, and it continues in Season 9. Cole had a large amount of screentime since this season is a team season.
  • He was focused on in Episodes 85 and 90.
    • In Episode 85, he acted as a mentor towards young Wu and helped him escape a dragon.
    • In Episode 90, Cole taught Wu about responsibility after he learned that Wu didn't know where the Dragon Armor was.
• Zane's role is smaller in the season than in Season 8, but he still has large amount of screentime in tackling the team problem in the Oni and Dragon realm, along with Kai, Jay, and Cole. His strength of being a nindroid and how his body is made of is touched upon in Episode 86 and Episode 91.
• Faith has a major role as well. She has a heavy role in the season with becoming an ally for the ninja, especially in Episodes 89 and 91.
• Dareth has the greatest role in the season since his debut in Season 2. He appears in all episodes of this season. He briefly gains powers in Episode 88 and Episode 89.
• Mystake has an important role in this season as well, unmasking her true identity in Episode 90. She appears in Episodes 86-92. This is her biggest role in the series.
• Skylor has a prominent role in the season. She creates a new power in Episode 87 and battles Garmadon over controlling the Colossus in Episode 92. Her relationship with Kai is shown in Episode 94 too. She appears in all episodes of this season. This is one of her biggest roles since Season 4.
• P.I.X.A.L. has something to do as well, as being Samurai X in the Resistance. Her relationship with Zane is touched upon in Episode 94. She appears in Episodes 85-89 and Episode 94. Her role is a lot smaller than in Season 8, though.
• Misako has made some appearances in the show, in Episodes 85-90 and Episode 94.
• Ronin has made cameo appearances in the show as well, in Episode 85, 90, and 94. He is also a member of the Resistance team.

Antagonists[]

• Iron Baron and Lord Garmadon served as the main antagonists of the Realm of Oni and Dragons and Ninjago, respectively.
  • This is the third season to officially feature two main antagonists. Legacy of the Green Ninja was the first, which featured Lord Garmadon as the main antagonist of the first half and the Overlord as the main antagonist of the second half, followed by The Hands of Time, which featured twin brothers Acronix and Krux as the main antagonists.
• Jet Jack and Harumi served as the secondary antagonists of the Realm of Oni and Dragons and Ninjago, respectively.
• Other important antagonists include Heavy Metal (Episodes 85-88), Daddy No Legs, Muzzle, Chew Toy, Arkade, Killow, Mr. E (Episodes 85-86), Ultra Violet, and the Colossus.
  • Mr. E meets his end in Episode 86, as he was killed by Garmadon for failing to capture Lloyd in Episode 85.
• The Dragon Hunters and the Sons of Garmadon serve as the villainous factions of the Realm of Oni and Dragons and Ninjago respectfully.

Videos[]

Hunted – LEGO NINJAGO – Official Season 9 Trailer

The Majestic Dragons - LEGO Ninjago - Season 9 - Hunted Teaser 1

Dragon Hunters - LEGO Ninjago - Season 9 - Hunted Teaser 2

Quest For The Dragon Armor - LEGO Ninjago - Season 9 - Hunted Teaser 3

The Resistance Never Quits - LEGO Ninjago - Season 9 - Hunted Teaser 4

Ninja Will Rise - LEGO Ninjago - Season 9 - Hunted Teaser 5

LEGO Ninjago Panel Exclusive Season 9 Q&A with Fans - SDCC 2018

Ninjago Best of Aging Master Wu Cartoon Network 🇬🇧

Gallery[]

Promotional media[]

Main poster

Textless main poster

Alternative poster

3 spoilers by Tommy Andreasen

Translation: Heroes of Two Worlds

LEGO.com icon

Dragon Cam Live Poster

Intro[]

Concept art[]

Dragons concept art

Earth Dragon

Ice Dragon

Fire Dragon

Translations[]

References[]