She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is back, and faster than we expected. The first season of DreamWorks Animation's reboot was released in November on Netflix, and less than six months later, we're heading back to Etheria. The reimagining of the 1985 cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power has taken great strides in updating the series a contemporary audience. With its commitment to diversity and realistic portrayals of friendship, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a hit among both children and adults.
Although it hasn't been that long since the first season arrived, it’s time enough to forget some key details. What’s the state of the Princess Alliance? Who were the First Ones? What’s Catra’s favorite color? We have you covered (OK, except for that last question, but we’re assuming it’s red) with our guide to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season 2, releasing April 26.
The Story So Far
Adora is a former Horde soldier who realizes the Horde, and the princesses, are not what she thought. After she stumbles upon the Sword of Protection and meets Princess Glimmer and Bow, Adora joins the Resistance, led by Queen Angella of Bright Moon (Glimmer’s mother).
It takes some time for Adora to get the hang of her magical sword powers — transforming her into an 8-foot-tall super-strong warrior — but it’s enough to impress Queen Angella and convince the other princesses to join the Resistance. Each princess is powered by a runestone, and the runestones keep the planet in balance. For the first time in a generation, the princesses form an alliance to fight in the Rebellion against the Horde.
The complication is the new Horde Force Captain is Adora’s former best friend, Catra. And the princesses suffer a loss in their rescue of Bow and Glimmer from the Fright Zone: They assume Princess Entrapta is dead. The Princess Alliance becomes fragmented, but they unite once again in the Battle of Bright Moon at the end of Season 1. We see that their powers are amplified when they are together. However, this is likely just the beginning of Catra’s invasions.
Key Princess Alliance Characters
In the Princess Alliance, there's Glimmer, Princess of Bright Moon, who has sparkle and teleportation powers. Princess Mermista of Salineas can breathe underwater and control water. Princess Frosta is young but, as the ruler of the Kingdom of Snows, the biggest kingdom outside of Bright Moon, she is a valuable asset. As her name suggests, she can freeze things and create whatever she wants out of ice.
There’s also Princess Perfuma of Plumeria, who can grow plants and hit people with flowers. Princess Netossa and Princess Spinneralla were introduced at the same time: Netossa tosses nets and Spinnerella’s powers resemble that of great winds.
Also fighting for the Princesses are Bow, Glimmer’s effervescent midriff-loving best friend, and Sea Hawk, a pirate who loves adventure almost as much as he loves Mermista. We also can’t forget about Swift Wind, She-Ra’s noble steed, who can talk ... frequently about how much he loves apples.
Key Horde Characters
The evil Lord Hordak leads the Horde, but he delegates tasks to his second-in-command, who for most of the first season is Shadow Weaver. She's the dark sorceress who raised Adora and Catra. Catra still sides with the Horde, especially with her promotion to Force Captain and eventual replacement of Shadow Weaver at the end of the season. Another Force Captain is Scorpia, who, surprisingly, is a former princess. Her family’s runestone is now in Lord Hordak’s possession, and key to his experiments. Although Scorpia looks tough, she’s a big softie and wants to be Catra’s best friend and soulmate more than anything else.
Princess Entrapta is crucial to the war. She is a socially awkward but brilliant inventor who initially sided with the Rebellion. But when she gets stuck at the Fright Zone and realizes the princesses aren’t coming back for her, she’s happy to perform scientific experimentation to heart’s content, which is really all she ever wanted. She’s the only one who can hack and repurpose the advanced technology of the First Ones, the ancient first settlers of Etheria whose absence still hasn’t been clearly explained.
Questions We Still Have
Viewers know Entrapta is still alive, but the princesses don’t at the end of the first season. Eventually, they have to find out. However, will Entrapta switch sides again? So far, she seems elated to have the wealth of resources for experiments the Horde has given her.
At a panel at New York Comic Con 2018, it was revealed that Bow has two dads. The first season didn’t delve into that, so it’s possible the second one will. Additionally, Bow understands Entrapta best, and could play a key role in her rescue and return to the princess fold.
Entrapta said in Season 1 that the core of their planet is all First Ones’ technology, which doesn’t bode well for the princesses. The longer Entrapta is on the Horde’s side and experiments with First Ones’ tech, the more damage they can potentially do. The First Ones are still a mystery, and there has to be a reason behind that (beyond that they've been gone for a thousand years).
There’s also the question of what happens to Shadow Weaver when she has no more power and has been replaced. Can the Horde really function efficiently with Catra as her replacement? Meanwhile, the princesses are united, but for storytelling purposes, there has to be tension coming from somewhere. It’s difficult to get a group of people to work together even with a major victory under their belt. So, the second season can delve into that more as well.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, starring Aimee Carrero, Karen Fukuhara, AJ Michalka, Marcus Scribner, Reshma Shetty, Lorraine Toussaint, Keston John, Lauren Ash, Christine Woods, Genesis Rodriguez, Jordan Fisher, Vella Lovell, Merit Leighton, Sandra Oh and Krystal Joy Brown, is now available on Netflix. Season 2 premieres on April 26.