WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation - Part One, now streaming on Netflix.
Prince Adam is dead! Long live Prince Adam! In the first five episodes of Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Eternia suffered a major blow when Skeletor finally managed to kill He-Man -- and learned his secret identity in the process. This left the kingdom reeling, but not for long, as Teela and her friends underwent a journey that took them to hell, heaven and back again in their attempt to restore magic and Eternia's former glory.
Speaking to CBR, Masters of the Universe: Revelation executive producer Kevin Smith explained how they decided to kill off He-Man and why it was necessary to build the stakes. He compared the moment to DC Comics' Death of Superman and addressed how this "core of drama" grounded the series in a way the original series never could. He shared his joy at being able to play in the Masters of the Universe sandbox, as well as his surprise that Evil-Lyn became one of his favorite characters. He also teased Evil-Lyn's upcoming story arc in Part Two and more.
CBR: Masters of the Universe: Revelation has a bit of a twist in the first episode, so what was the one thing you knew you needed to keep to make your series feel consistent with the previous stories you know and love?
Kevin Smith: Every character had to look the same. Every character's motivations had to be the same. All the relationships had to be the same. Their delivery, what they talked about, what they wanted, all of that had to be the same. It wasn't like we were going to take something everybody knew and break it and destroy it and be like, "You don't even recognize this shit anymore!" So the idea was keep it faithful, because that was our manifest.
When I got the job, they were like, "We're making a series for the people that grew up watching this cartoon series, and they're all old now" -- like our boss Teddy at Netflix. He's my age -- well, I think I'm older than him, but he grew up watching this as a kid. Now he's an adult, and he's in a position of power to be like, "Let's do Masters of the Universe the way I've always wanted to see it." That was his thing! He was like, "Look, every episode I watched, I thought Skeletor would kill He-Man. I grew up; I realized that was not the case." He's going, "Just give me a show where I believe that again." He's like, "Give me stakes. Make me believe that everything just ain't gonna be going back to normal the next episode. Let's grow them up."
So in doing that, we got to have the best of both worlds, where we're playing with the characters and they're somebody else's toys, so we're respectful as hell, and we're playing with them the way that they're meant to be played with. But then we just kind of let them grow up a little bit. Part of that is about looking at the -- you know, we watched every episode of the classic series and we zeroed in on the opening credit sequence, which kind of mirrors our opening title sequence: the idea that only a few people know Adam's big secret, and one of the most important characters who was with Adam in every episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the one character left in the dark, primarily -- Teela.
So that, for us, was our tee-off point. We were like, "Oh, what happens if Lois Lane finds out that Clark Kent was Superman all that time, but she finds out when he dies?" You know, as they did in DC Comics at the Death of Superman and stuff, although Lois had known who he was for a few years prior to that. So the idea was, "How do you grieve somebody who's been lying to you your whole life?"
We felt that was interesting drama, and you need a core of drama, aside from all the fighting stuff, but the fighting stuff is so dynamic, because you never get to see those characters fight in the old show. There were a lot of tumble salts and stuff, but there was no punching or anything. He never clashed his sword, for heaven's sakes, with anybody! So we had that going for us where, right away, of course, Teddy was like, "They all get to fight! There can be blood!" You know, all the things he wanted to see when he was kid, and that was the perfect lodestar for this entire project, because it was always about fanservice, always about, "What did you want to see when you were a kid when you watch Masters of the Universe? Because now we're in charge, and we get a chance to do that!"
So it was approached with absolute joy. To do that, we had to stay very true to everything. So even if we break a toy here or there, or kill Moss Man or other very beloved characters, it was never like, "We changed this character and then we destroyed it." We took the character that you loved from your childhood, like when -- spoilers -- Orko faces off against Scare Glow. That's the goofy little wizard you've known forever and sometimes are irritated by in the cartoons, because he couldn't make his magic work, suddenly facing off against the powers of hell. That's the kind of show that we were fortunate enough to be asked to do.
Since you're a fan of the original series, what was the one character you couldn't wait to get your hands on?
I honestly thought, at the beginning of it, it was Skeletor. He's so fun, because he could chew the scenery, and then when you cast Mark [Hamill], Mark loves to chew the scenery and stuff. So you've got the [most] Joker-ish Skeletor you'll ever get in your life and stuff.
So I assumed going in that Skeletor would be all the fun, but I'll be honest with you, the two characters that I found most compelling as I was going through the series of Part One and, later on, Part Two: in Part One, it's Orko for sure, because the journey we take with him, but my favorite character, I think, and their journey that does it for me is Evil-Lyn.
Watching somebody who's just been the sinister sidekick for all these years, abused by her boss and whatnot, have to deal with a world without that guy -- just like Teela is dealing with a world without He-Man -- Evil-Lyn has to figure out who she is in the absence of Skeletor. Her journey becomes really interesting. Her name is Evil-Lyn so it's right in her brand, but slowly she joins the heroic warriors and becomes something of a hero. Then, of course, Episode 5 happens. Oh, but wait until you see what happens in Part Two! It's a lot of Evil-Lyn and her storyline is so wonderful. So she was the character I was most surprised that I enjoyed so much. It certainly helps that Lena Headey knocked the part out of the park and stuff. But yeah, her journey, I found incredibly compelling.
Executive produced by Kevin Smith, the first five episodes of Masters of the Universe: Revolution are now available on Netflix.