Written by When the second half of “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” aired this past November 23rd, fans were treated to quite an exciting tease at the show’s conclusion. After “Motherboard” revealed herself to be an apparent cognitive being and transformed her body into the form of a towering winged female, an opening in her head projected a well known insignia as she infected the restrained Skeletor with cybernetic fluid. That insignia was the symbol of “The Horde”, a red emblem that prominently displays the face of its leader in the center of two bat wings, the head of the one and only, Hordak.
Teasing a future appearance of the villian known as the “Ruthless Leader of the Evil Horde” was exciting to say the least. It drummed up quite an excited fevor among the fan community as they relished in all the potential sequel possibilities. But interestingly enough, a portion of fans suddenly asked, will She-Ra make an appearance too?
Regardless of how one feels towards He-Man’s twin sister (considered by some an unnecessary addition the lore), Hordak is often remembered as the main villian to Princess Adora in the 1985 series “She-Ra: Princess of Power”. Because of this correlation, Hordak’s likely role in a follow-up season to Revelation has caused some fans (and reporters in the media) to suggest the villian’s inclusion will lead to She-Ra’s appearance as well. But will it? Not likely, read on!
The invention of Hordak was originally conceived by Mattel’s Director of Boys Toy Marketing, Dave Chapper (per the Roger Sweet book titled “Mastering the Universe”.) Fleshed out in dueling, yet somewhat parallel joint concept art designs by Filmation and Mattel, the dastardly Hordak was actually never intended as a strict She-Ra villain.
Outside the “She-Ra: Princess of Power” cartoon, the ghostly white faced villian was mostly featured as a nemesis to He-Man. Hordak went so far as to appear in eleven Masters of the Universe mini-comics as a dangerous foil to He-Man, where Hordak only appeared once in the She-Ra line of comics. (Catra was She-Ra’s most common enemy).
Hordak also had a terrific introduction to the Motu & Filmation universe in the form of the storybook & audio cassette combo “The POWER of the EVIL HORDE! Featuring HE-MAN and SKELETOR!” This audio recording actually contained music from the 1983 Filmation Series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” and featured familiar voice actors like John Erwin and Alan Oppenheimer, which often made it feel like an episode taken right from the classic series!
And when Hordak landed on toy shelves in its worldwide debut, Hordak was actually sold under the “Masters of the Universe” banner and not under the She-Ra “Princess of Power” toyline.
Golden & Ladybird Books. German Audio Plays. The 2002 reboot “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” series. Most of the mediums proved Hordak was more of an antagonist to He-Man versus She-Ra, except when it came to She-Ra’s 1985 Filmation cartoon (and the new 2018 Netflix series “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power”.)
But of course, “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” is a follow-up to the 1983 Filmation series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”, so it’s understandable if some fans assume they’ll see Filmation’s rendition of Hordak as well (and, by extension, She-Ra.) Some Adora fans even hope for a retelling of She-Ra’s origin depicted in the first five episodes of 1985’s “She-Ra: Princess of Power” (which was also combined into a feature film titled “The Secret of the Sword”.)
The only obstacle with that thinking is the “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” creators does not possess the television rights to She-Ra. That’s right, while Mattel owns the character of She-Ra, Mattel Television apparently cannot make a television series with She-Ra.
Apparently it goes back to She-Ra’s conception. While the contract terms are not in public circulation, when it was time to work out terms between Filmation and Mattel for a new She-Ra series back in 1984-1985, it seems that Filmation had negotiated and obtained the exclusive rights to make She-Ra television shows indefinitely.
Perhaps it was due to Filmation’s level of contribution (the initial She-Ra premise and characters has been reported to be creations of Filmation writers Larry DiTillio and J. Michael Straczynski.) Perhaps it was due to the increased clout the animation studio had obtained thanks to the overwhelming success of “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (and how it greatly impacted toy sales.) Whatever the underlying reasons, much like what occurred to some properties of the Marvel universe, the exclusive series rights to make She-Ra programming appears to have stayed with Filmation (which was subsequently bought out by Dreamworks which is now owned by NBC/Universal.)
So basically, even though Mattel owns the rights to the She-Ra character toys, Dreamworks Animation (not Mattel Television) has the rights to make She-Ra television shows.
Kevin Smith confirmed this last November 2021 while speaking to Den of Geek. While Kevin indicated the people at Mattel and Netflix would love to have a She-Ra crossover happen, it’s not something that easily can be worked out.
Per Kevin Smith:
“The only thing that I’ve been told over and over again is the properties are owned by two different companies,” Smith says. “Masters of the Universe is owned by Mattel. The She-Ra figures are owned by Mattel but (animated) She-Ra is owned by DreamWorks.”
– Kevin smith to DEN OF GEEK
So will He-man and She-Ra ever appear in a television series together again? Anything is possible, but getting the twins back together would seemingly require legal contracts and profit sharring between the two companies, something that could have occurred already between NBC/Universal and Mattel Television (but didn’t.) Both companies could have already come together to make “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” a true licensed sequel to the 1983 Filmation Classic Series (versus a spiritual sequel) but no deal was ever struck or even pursued to our knowledge.
So, it would at least seem the odds are really stacked against She-Ra ever appearing in a new season to “Masters of the Universe: Revelation”, especially with Dreamworks Animation now Executive Producing a She-Ra live action series over at Netflix’s streaming competitor Amazon.
Until next time!
I hate this seeming unwillingness to work together so much. Does it feel like Dreamworks is the stingy one?