Mattel Television and Netflix released the first look “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” and it turns out the characters — including He-Man, Skeletor, Teela and Orko — look a lot like they did on the beloved 1980s animated series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” just a bit glowed up.
They also announced the show will premiere globally on July 23.
Since the series was announced in 2019, fans have been speculating just what executive producer and showrunner Kevin Smith — writer-director of “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma” — would be doing with the property. As the images make clear, Smith and the team at Powerhouse Animation (also the animation studio behind Netflix’s “Castlevania” series) are paying homage not just to the look of the original series, but its storylines as well.
“So much of this show has been possible because of the love and affection for this world at every level of production and the fandom surrounding this franchise,” Smith said in a statement. “So many of us were touched by these stories and these characters early in our lives and were so happy to come back to Eternia. But even if you’ve never watched a single episode of the show or don’t know this universe at all, you can jump right into the story. It’s a really classic, universal action-adventure epic about growth, discovery, magic, and power. This series explores destiny in a fresh way. There’s a lot of reconciling with secrets, betrayal, trust, acceptance, love, and ultimately, loss.”
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“Revelation” picks up where the original series left off in 1985. The first episode revolves around a life-changing battle between He-Man (voiced by Chris Wood) and his lifelong nemesis Skeletor (Mark Hamill), after which the planet of Eternia is left broken and He-Man’s compatriots fractured and estranged. He-Man’s compatriot Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar) — who undergoes the most dramatic visual update on the series — is tasked with reuniting her old friends in order to save Eternia and the universe.
While the original series was pitched to children, Smith’s take is aimed squarely at the adults who remember the show fondly, including using Mattel’s original Masters of the Universe toy line as inspiration for the look of the series.
“We’re playing with the original mythology and characters, and revisiting and digging deeper into some of the unresolved storylines,” Smith said.
Along with Wood, Hamill, and Gellar, the voice cast is stacked with talent, including Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn, Liam Cunningham as Man-At-Arms, Stephen Root as Cringer, Griffin Newman as Orko, Diedrich Bader as King Randor and Trap Jaw, Alicia Silverstone as Queen Marlena, and Justin Long as Roboto. Alan Oppenheimer, who played Skeletor on the original series, is returning as the voice of Moss Man.
Part one of “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” consisting of five episodes, is written by Smith, Marc Bernardin, Eric Carrasco, Diya Mishra and Tim Sheridan; Bear McCreary (“Battlestar Galactica,” “The Walking Dead”) is the composer; and Frederic Soulie, Adam Bonnett, Christopher Keenan and Rob David are executive producers.
See the first look images below.