Netflix's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is the latest series to return to this beloved franchise, on the heels of Masters of the Universe: Revelation earlier this year. Developed by Rob David, who was also responsible for Revelation, the new series focuses on reimagining the classic story of the Guardians of Grayskull.
David and executive producer Jeff Matsuda spoke to Screen Rant about taking on the challenge of reshaping the childhood of millions, as well as what they hope fans old and new will take away from the series.
Screen Rant: Earlier this year, I got to relive my childhood with Masters of the Universe: Revelations, and now my kid gets their own version via the Netflix project, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Rob, I know you've been preparing for this moment your whole life, to tell this story. Can you talk to me about what it's like introducing your childhood hero to a whole new generation?
Rob David: Well, it's a huge responsibility, a huge opportunity, a huge joy. I mean, this has really been my personal passion project for so long and it could not have happened better, with a greater group of teammates to bring this about, but really... I have two kids, right. And I'm having kind of the whole circle of life moment where I am seeing them get to experience the stuff that I love for the first time. And that's an awesome responsibility.
And the biggest thing is to not say, "Here, this is my thing. And I'll let you play with it." Allow them to discover it, allow them to have confidence in what truly makes it what it is, but allow it for them to discover it and play with it on their terms, in ways that are relevant to them and aspirational to them.
So the biggest thing to do here is just to take what we love about Masters of the Universe, really what we truly love about it, and then distill it to the core DNA. What are the things that are core about it? And then take those things and then re-imagine them and reshuffle them in a way that's completely vibrant and relevant to kids growing up right now.
Now, I have to ask you about this animation style because it's next level. It is beautiful. House of Cool and CGCG did a tremendous job. Can you speak a little bit about the animation style and collaborating with House of Cool and CGCG?
Jeff Matsuda: House of Cool did all the pre-production and helped with the designs. They did an incredible job to help just figure out what these characters are going to be like, how are we going to get their unique silhouettes, how they're going to be updated from all the characters that we know and love. And then CGCG worked very closely with them, as well, on how to get the exact look of their faces. I wanted to really figure out how to make this as attractive as possible to the next generation. And I think part of it is just, even if you look at it close, their skin's a little weird looking, it's really gummy. We worked forever to get this translucent sort of gummy look for all the characters.
Because it's not real, right? It's cartoony and shapey, but it still has the things you love about CG, but not the things you don't like about CG. And we tried to put that together in a really vibrant saturated packet. And I think they knocked it out of the park. Rob and I get dailies all the time and we feel like it's Christmas every morning. We're like, "Look at the next episode, 10 shots, all the shots we got." So it's been amazing. The crew we work with, it's a labor of love for all of us. We just, love it so much.
Rob David: Just to add onto that, House of Cool, they're such great storytellers and their storyboards and CGCG, oh my goodness. I mean, the stuff that they turn out, Trollhunters, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I mean, it's just insane kind of realism, but also kind of hyperrealism.
But one of the greatest things [about] also going from a traditional 2D, which I love 2D, to going into CG 3D animation is the mobility of the camera. For the battle scenes, to be able to have a full 360 set and my goodness, and also to be able to deliver on powers in ways we've never been able to do before. To have He-Man have his own power set, to have Sorceress Teela [Kimberly Brooks] have her power set, Krass Ram Man, unique to them. And then as they level up to unlock new ones and have that come out as beautifully rendered as these studios could do. It was a real treat, I think.
I think you guys do a great job of telling Prince Adam's (Yuri Lowenthal) story and making fans care about Adam. Can you talk to me about this version of Adam and how he differs from previous iterations?
Rob David: Well, it's funny because when He-Man first came out, there was no Prince Adam, like in the package of ECC Comics, he wasn't there and He-Man was just this wandering barbarian from a jungle tribe. And then DC Comics, when they first had the license in the 80s and then followed by Filmation, created this kind of alter ego Prince Adam, but it was still in the mold of the way heroes used to be done. Really up until, probably the end of the 80s, where the hero was kind of perfect, and then the alter ego was just a pretense like Superman pretended to be Clark Kent. And the first seats changing this was really Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, with the Peter Parker idea that "No, Peter is Peter and then he aspires to become Spider-Man."
And with Adam, it's just having this opportunity to say, "Look, Adam is a real person and he's not an instant hero. He is somebody who has got something inside of him." And this is true to Masters of the Universe, why we love it. The sort of power is a metaphor for a key. That really unlocks what's special about Adam beneath the surface. And that's something that he now needs to go on a path to mastery.
That was the other thing for me. One, to now define it in a way that could apply to a lot of characters so that they are masters of the different primal power of the universe specific to them. And the other thing was working in the concept of mastery, into Masters of the Universe. That they start off as white belts and over the course of the series, they'll become a metaphorical black belt, but only by self-discovery, only as the elder sorceress puts it, discovering who they are truly inside and out.
This is truly an ensemble where we follow four teenagers and their cat. I mean, it's a true coming of age story. Can you talk to me about Duncan, Man-At-Arms, and his relationship with Adam in the series? Because this is a version that I hadn't seen in the character before.
Jeff Matsuda: First, I want to give a shout to Antony Del Rio, who plays him for the voice casting. And a lot of times when the voice casting is so great, like what we have on this show, he just killed it on the first day. And because of how he acted, he actually affected the storylines and the way he was written as it went.
Rob David: We basically wanted Duncan to be part of this team and to be a part of this team truly to go on this coming-of-age story. And so, we double down on the kind of master inventor component of it, the archetype of the father figure; the mentor I gave to Cringer, to allow Cringer also be a full master and to kind of have Adam be in the jungle tribe and have that connection to them. But originally Ducan was a year older than Teela and Adam and he was going to be a little bit [of an] older brother. And then we got Antony's audition. There was another actor who kind of did it really well and did it more as the character was conceived and written, but Antony had this extra... This kind of vulnerability and this kind of insecurity to him that just... To Jeff's point, just really kind of spoke to us.
And then realized that like, "Oh my God, this is just wonderful. And we should lean into that." I mean, he was always written in the Bible, in the re-imagining to be the apprentice of Kronis, but Antony's performance kind of gave that even more of a spotlight, that he has to now prove that he's not just a tool of Kronis, but he's his own builder.
Another thing that I really like about this series as well is the theme of found family. Jeff, can you speak to that a little bit?
Jeff Matsuda: Well, I thought it was just really cool the way we start out with Adam and the tiger tribe and that's where he's from. He also has this dad, who's King Randor and then you have Krass [Judy Alice Lee], who is sad for the loss of maybe losing Adam to this new family. So I think it's cool that they all find their way home to him to a degree.
For long-time Masters of the Universe fans out there, they just had a taste of Revelations, which I couldn't stop raving about. But what should excite them about this retelling of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe?
Rob David: Well, I think they're going to have, hopefully, an amazing experience watching this with their kids or just on their own if they're kids at heart. The great way to look at Masters of the Universe, is that it's really a multi-verse and that both these series, as well as the original Filmation cartoon, as well as the mini-comics, as well as shows that haven't even come out yet, that will come out in 15 years from now, they all exist, co-exist equally in the multi-verse that is Masters of the Universe. So I think knowing that a fan of the original can sit down and say, "Hey, this show, at its core is so Masters of the Universe," I'm telling you right now, it was very important to me that every part of this resonates with Masters in a different way.
And even if things change, to move things around, so that it's truly at its core Masters, but completely all-new, completely fresh. So if you're an old-time fan, you might enjoy this kind of dual experience where you're like, "Oh my God, they're doing this thing. Oh my God, they're doing this. They're going to talk about Keldor. They're doing this, they're talking about this." But at the same time that "I don't have any idea where it's going to go next." If you're an old-time fan, this is kind of being five again.
Jeff, what are you excited for new fans to take away from this version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe?
Jeff Matsuda: What I'm excited for is that they could get into the love that their parents have for He-Man and own it for themselves. And I think for me, it's just so cool. I went to the He-Man Con with Rob a while back and I'd see these cosplaying characters going up there and they would say, "Please make a show I could watch with my kids." And that really struck me when I saw that day, I was like, "Wow, that's, that is the coolest concept." And I have kids as well and I watched their shows. And I wish when I was watching Blue's Clues and Little Einsteins, shows I love, I wish I had a He-Man show like this to watch and binge watch with my kids. A lot of times when people say kids shows, there's this assumption of being dumbed down or being simple. This show really isn't, it is something I would love to watch.
Rob and I and the whole crew, tried to make something for everyone. I mean, it'll work for kids. But it'll work for all of us. It's an epic tale. And the first season is great and it keeps getting better every season, which is to me, nuts. Because I loved the first one.
All 10 episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe season 1 are currently available to stream on Netflix.