'She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power' Retrospective

TV & Film

May 14

‘For The Honor of Grayskull!’

On this day five years ago, fans would hear these words for the last time in the final episodes of She-Ra & The Princesses of Power, an animated series that would capture the hearts of fans worldwide with its bold messages and powerful character arcs. The series made its mark as a show that will someday be looked upon as a cult classic, but for now, let’s take a minute to reflect on the series from its conception to now.

Beginnings & First Steps

She-Ra & The Princesses of Power is a reboot of the original 1985 cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, which was a spinoff and sequel to the 1983 cartoon He-Man & The Masters of the Universe. She-Ra would first be introduced in the movie He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, which served as the show’s pilot episode.

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She-Ra: Princess of Power would run for two seasons, airing 120 episodes in the span of roughly two years, and proved to be a smash hit for Mattel and Filmation, just as its predecessor, He-Man. When She-Ra finished airing in 1987, He-Man would receive two new shows in the 1990s and 2000s, but She-Ra would remain largely untouched for nearly thirty years.

In the mid-2010s, DreamWorks Television would make the decision to dust off She-Ra for a long-overdue reboot. The series was initially conceptualized as a semi-episodic series with 11-minute episodes, a more lighthearted and comedic contemporary to Voltron: Legendary Defender, another DreamWorks TV reboot imagining the classic 80s IP as a sci-fi epic. However, these plans would change when DreamWorks tapped comic book writer and artist N.D. Stevenson to develop the story of the series. Stevenson was no stranger to deconstructing and expanding genres, as shown with his graphic novels Nimona and Lumberjanes. With Stevenson at the helm, the initial concept of an episodic comedy series would gradually evolve into a serialized fantasy adventure in its own right with more detailed and fleshed-out character arcs.

She-Ra & The Princesses of Power would soon find itself picked up by Netflix in 2015 for a five-season, 52-episode run, with Stevenson serving as showrunner alongside animation veteran Chuck Austen (King of the Hill, Steven Universe). The series would receive new character designs created by Ray Geiger (High Guardian Spice, Big Nate), the story would be written by a mostly-female writer’s room, the score composed by Dutch-American composer Sunna Wehrmeijer, and animation by South Korean studio NE4U (Batman: Hush, Invincible).

The Series

She-Ra & The Princesses of Power would make its debut on Netflix in November 2018.

The basic premise would be identical to that of the original series: On the planet Etheria, Adora (voiced by Aimee Carrero), a soldier of the Evil Horde, having the trajectory of her life forever changed when she stumbles upon the Sword of Protection, learns of her destiny as the warrior She-Ra, and joins the Rebellion, led by Princess Glimmer (Karen Fukuhara) and Bow (Marcus Scribner) against the Horde. However, these are also where the similarities end, with all the characters present receiving major overhauls to their appearances, backstories, and character arcs to better allow for more serialized storytelling, while also recontextualizing elements of the original series.

The biggest offender in this case is the rivalry between She-Ra and Catra (A.J. Michalka), a fellow Horde soldier. While in the original series Catra is just one of several recurring villains, SPOP opts to give Catra a far more personal stake in the narrative, making her and Adora best friends, and then exploring both sides of the Rebellion-Horde conflict as their personal feelings lead to a rapid escalation in every clash, stakes being continuously raised while the greater story is still at play. Catra rises through the ranks of the Horde, but can never really find enjoyment in it because even with everything she thought she wanted, the power and influence, it’s truly lonely at the top without the person she cares most about.

These reimaginings and expansions to character arcs don’t stop there, every character has their moment to shine and a story that spans the entirety of the series, with Glimmer growing into newfound power and responsibilities while struggling to rebuild the rebellion against the Horde, oftentimes butting heads with Adora when it comes to leadership, which leads her into some dark places and dabbling in darker forms of magic under the influence of Shadow Weaver (Lorraine Toussaint) another big bad of the series, and the abusive foster mother to Catra and Adora.

There’s also the character growth of Hordak (Keston John), the main antagonist for most of the series, who spends most of the series attempting to conquer Etheria and deliver it to his ‘big brother’ Horde Prime (also Keston John) while slowly discovering his own identity and desires outside his creator’s shadow, and embracing his flaws with some help from lab partner Entrapta (Christine Woods).

All this to say that every character has something going on that grounds them in ways the original series couldn’t. And of course, these re-interpretations opened the floor for new interpretations of character dynamics. The biggest change is that in the original series, Adora was at the center of a love triangle between Bow and Sea Hawk (voiced by Jordan Fisher in this series). This reboot foregoes this angle, and instead keeps the story centered around Adora and Catra, aka Catradora, as we see the two go from best friends to bitter enemies, to reluctant allies, to love interests. This change was arguably the most notable, with this children’s show hinging around a queer love story, with heartfelt messages about self-love, acceptance, and perseverance resonating with many viewers, allowing its fanbase to endure even five years after the show’s conclusion.

She-Ra & The Princess of Power has left a lasting mark on storytelling in children’s media, showcasing the potential for bold stories with diverse characters at their center.

What’s Next?

She-Ra & The Princesses of Power aired its final season on May 15th, 2020, and while fans are still begging for breadcrumbs from this specific series, be it a sixth season, a movie, or even some merchandise, there are no plans for either at this time from DreamWorks, Mattel, or Netflix. However, in late 2021, it was announced that Amazon MGM Studios had begun development on a live-action She-Ra series. While details on this project are still incredibly scarce, we did learn that the series has found its writer and executive producer in What the Constitution Means To Me creator Heidi Shreck, who joins director Nicole Kassel and executive producers Robin Sweet and DreamWorks Animation on this production. A release window has yet to be announced. Amazon MGM is also producing a live-action He-Man & The Masters of the Universe film directed by Travis Knight, expected to release in theaters in June 2026, with there being some speculation that the Twins of Power might have a long-overdue reunion in their future.

In the meantime, SPOP showrunner N.D. Stevenson has moved on to new projects. In 2023, his graphic novel Nimona received an animated film adaptation, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Additionally, a Lumberjanes adaptation entered development at Max (formerly called HBO Max) in 2020 with him attached as a writer and executive producer, though its status is unclear amidst major changes at Warner Bros. Additionally, in 2021, Stevenson began his memoir-webcomic series I’m Fine I’m Fine Just Understand, which is available to read on Substack. Finally, Stevenson has a new novel, Scarlet Morning, scheduled to release in bookstores this September.

All five seasons of She-Ra & The Princess of Power are available to stream on Netflix.

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