Masters of the Universe: Revelation showrunner Kevin Smith has confirmed that though the Netflix series is animated in an anime style, none of the He-Man characters have been drastically redesigned. First announced at last year's Power-Con Convention, Smith's He-Man show will be a direct continuation of the 1980s cartoon and follow Teela as she searches for the Power Sword. The Netflix show is what the streamer calls an anime original and it will be animated by Powerhouse Animation, the same studio responsible for Castlevania.
Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation has lined up an impressive voice cast that includes Mark Hamill as Skeletor, Chris Wood as He-Man, Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn, Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops, and many more. Being a Kevin Smtih project, his Jay and Silent Bob partner, Jason Mewes, finds himself voicing Stinkor, while Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, is playing Ileena. Revelation isn't Netflix's only series based on He-Man, either, because the streaming platform is also developing a CG-animated series called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and it's already home to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. As a reboot of the original 1980s cartoon, She-Ra did choose to update the design of its main character, but Smith insists that Revelation is not doing that with its He-Man characters.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Smith gave an update on his Masters of the Universe show, and while praising the work being done by Powerhouse Animation, he explained how the He-Man characters' designs have been changed only as much as required to fit Powerhouse's style. Otherwise, the characters should be instantly recognizable to any fan of the original Master of the Universe cartoon. Read Smith's comments on the He-Man character designs, below.
Powerhouse Animation absolutely killed it. This art work is amazing. The design work that Powerhouse has done... absolutely spellbinding. It's in the style of an anime - what Netflix calls an anime original - but looks exactly like our classic characters. Nobody's been redesigned to where you're 'Oh that's the 2020 version.' They all look like they're supposed to. And the story functions as essentially the next episode when [the 1980s original animated series] stopped.
Surely, longtime fans of He-Man will be pleased to hear that he and all the other characters appearing in Masters of the Universe: Revelation will look pretty much as they remember them. It'll be interesting to see how each of the characters have been modified slightly to better fit within Powerhouse's style, but judging by Smith's comments, they won't disappoint.
In addition to the new He-Man cartoon and anime from Smith, Sony has been developing a live-action Masters of the Universe movie. Recent reports, however, suggest Netflix may actually be trying to buy the beleaguered project from Sony. If true, Netflix would control a large chunk of the Eternia media landscape. Sony did also recently remove Masters of the Universe from their release slate, suggesting they may be thinking of either dumping it or retooling the project. Whatever it is they choose to do, there's still plenty of new Masters of the Universe content on its way.
Source: ComicBook.com