Nickelodeon’s newest animated series, Santiago of the Seas, premieres this Friday October 9th at 12:30pm. Creator Niki Lopez previews what families can expect from the swashbuckling show, including the great debut episode.

Jackson Murphy: The Pirate’s Life has given us some fantastic adventures in Film & TV – in live-action and animation. What inspired you to go this route with this series?

Niki Lopez: Really… it was home. I’m originally from Puerto Rico, born and raised. Growing up, I would go to Old San Juan and everything that surrounded me was – I always connected it to was, ‘Oh, it’s just like Pirates of the Caribbean!’ The background of where I grew up and also all the lore and mythology of home – tales about good pirates that protected certain towns. That definitely had a huge influence into the infection of Santiago of the Seas.

JM: He is such a good, young pirate. Santiago kind of reminds me of Peter Parker. He doesn’t suddenly have an alter ego per se, but he gets these powers and he’s figuring out how to use them, and we’re right along there with him. What makes Santiago a superhero of sorts in your mind?

NL: It’s truly the kindness of his heart because he has a heart of gold. The island chooses him as a new pirate protector, so with the support of the magic of the island, he can use all his pirate equipment, like his compass, to transform into Captain Santiago!

JM: One of the other things that will stand-out to families is the blending of English and Spanish dialogue in the conversations. It’s not just stopping and saying, ‘Can you say this?’ There’s a little bit of that, but it’s actually hearing the words in use, and we haven’t seen this too much in children’s animation.

NL: Yeah. That was something that was hugely important to me – to see that relatability. When kids come from a family where they co-switch between English and Spanish, it actually felt organic, much like how they speak at home. That’s something very similar to how it was done in [Spider-Man] Into the Spider-Verse. And there’s certain words within a sentence that they’ll say. They say it in Spanish and then we’ll integrate the English version in a way that makes sense – that doesn’t feel robotic. I wanted it to feel as authentic as possible.

JM: Yes, it feels organic and natural. One of the scenes in the first episode that surprises me is that about five minutes in, Cousin Tomas almost falls off a cliff! How far can you go in suspense and peril with this kind of show?

NL: I’ve actually been a little bit surprised throughout the journey. ‘We can do that with a pre-school show?!’ As long as it’s done in a way where, I guess for that particular scene, it’s not this huge, tall hill. It’s a little short-ish. It feels impressive for a younger audience, as long as there’s always the involvement of a life vest or some sort to keep it safe, as well as magic. That’s sort of our literal safety net, I suppose.

JM: And teamwork helps out, too. One of the other characters, Bonnie Bones, fascinates me because you don’t often see the villain on one of these shows with kids as the main characters being basically the same age. And she’s got such a distinct look, too.

NL: For Bonnie, I told the two writers that I was working with that I wanted a villain that felt like the Latina version of Cyndi Lauper. Somebody that’s a little bit perky and punk-rock and just wants to have fun. And she’s kind of naughty. So that’s how she came about. I feel like, especially with villains in this age group, it would be kind of cool to not see an adult being the villain but rather close to the heroes’ age. There’s an opportunity for comedy and relatability there that I think is important.

JM: It’s refreshing to see that. And John Leguizamo voices Sir Butterscotch the Crow. He’s a borderline voice acting legend for voicing Sid the Sloth in all those Ice Age movies and TV specials. How did he approach this animal character?

NL: He received the design. He read the script, and he just walked into the booth already with what the character was gonna sound like. As soon as we heard it, we were like, ‘Yep. He knows what he’s doing!’ He truly is a legend. Any character he does is so distinct and funny. I still can’t believe that he became involved in this show because it’s such an honor. But life surprises you, I guess!

JM: There are a lot of cool design elements to the show, including the compass, the treasure and the ships that light-up. What was the most difficult design for the items and set pieces?

NL: Pirate ships in general are very challenging. We wanted to approach it in a way that the design felt iconic [but also] something we haven’t seen before. And… this ship responds to Santiago’s commands in Spanish. So how can we show that without being weird and the ship talking back? Certain decorative elements on the side of the show glow in response to Santiago and his commands. And since the island chose Santiago, obviously his magic is gonna stem from nature. So he summons the ship from the ocean’s surface.

JM: And speaking of iconic, that’s what you can describe the theme music of Pirates of the Caribbean. What was your approach to the adventure music here?

NL: We really wanted it to have that cinematic weight to it without it feeling too light-hearted or too stereotypically pre-school. There were definitely moments where we leaned into the light-hearted aspects of it. But because this is a show that is inspired by Latino Caribbean culture, a lot of sounds stem from instruments that we would use in… merengue or salsa. [We wanted] to make this not only a cinematic, high-energy, action/adventure pirate show, but one that felt rich and authentic in the culture that it respects.

JM: And to make it feel alive. A lot of animation people have told me over the years that water is one of the toughest elements to create in animation and also one of the most expensive. Would you agree to that when it comes to this show? (There’s a lot of water.)

NL: Yes. (laughs) The reason why we went with our overseas studio Lemon Sky in Malaysia – they had the right technology to make water happen in a way that almost seems easy. I really tip my hat to them. (laughs) They’re the true magicians. I’m not sure how much of the budget went into it, to be honest. But they really made it look good. I’m thoroughly impressed by how beautiful it turned out.

JM: There’s gotta be a toy line coming out for this, right?

NL: I hope so! Hopefully if we get a lot of eyes on it and the demand is huge, yes there will be toys.

JM: I can picture kids playing with figures of these characters and creating their own adventures. What would that mean to you to see kids across the country – and the globe – immersing themselves in these figures and playsets of this world that you’ve created?

NL: I would feel like I’m in a dream. It would be one of those situations where I couldn’t believe it would be a reality. Just the idea alone that kids will watch the show, as well as parents, and to see themselves represented and imagining adventures in this world with these characters, it’s so humbling. It’s truly something that I never expected would become a reality when I was much younger. I feel very lucky and very blessed.