#12 "Brick by Brick: The Friendship Behind LEGO® Star Wars" with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit

Screenwriting duo Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (Spaceballs 2, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, The Addams Family 2) drop into HypeFriend to show how a friendship‑first partnership delivers laughter to audiences—including their next project, LEGO® Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past on Disney+. We trace their theater kid meet‑cute in a college lighting booth, the yin/yang strengths that keep their work brave, the loyalty that opened doors (hi, Josh Gad!), and how “failure” can become your best break. Inside Rebuild the Galaxy, we talk joyful mash‑ups (yes, Darth Jar Jar), why Ahsoka’s heart still shines—even as a BrickHead—and the thrill of playing with every toy in a galaxy far, far away. If you’re building anything with a friend, this is your blueprint.

0:00 Cold Open: Mini-Michael loses his head
0:23 Welcome
3:34 “If you build it, they will come…”
6:37 Ashley Bakes
11:26 Hypes and Gripes
28:55 Good Gossip
32:30 Neighborhood Drop-In: Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit
35:13 The Dan & Benji Origin Story: from a Brown University lighting booth to best friend duo
43:17 Becoming friends because of Revenge of the Sith (and the seed of Ewok bounty hunters)
44:37 Inside Rebuild the Galaxy: Ahmed Best returns as Darth Jar Jar, and Ashley returns as BrickHead Ahsoka
51:47 Complementary strengths & zero big blowups
59:30 What "HypeFriend" means to Dan & Benji:
1:08:42 Loyalty in action
1:15:21 You can’t copy a career path
1:20:40 Play with every toy: LEGO Star Wars Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past
01:25:38 One Last Thing

Join us in our friendship revolution, one HypeFriend (and one LEGO brick) at a time!