When the 2024 Netflix Animated Series “Masters of the Universe: Revolution” finished its opening week, critics and audiences alike were overwhelmingly thrilled with the sophomore entry series.
While considerably less divisive with fans than its predecessor series “Masters of the Universe: Revelation“, the word around the industry was ‘Revolution’ did not seem to fair as well compared to ‘Revelation’ when it came to overall viewership.
Although most news outlets where very complimentary of ‘Revolution’ (and rightly so!) sources like What’s on Netflix dropped disappointing viewership tidbits in relation to ‘Revelation’ that fans were hoping not to hear “– viewership has dropped on Masters of the Universe: Revolution from the height of popularity (or perhaps just pure intrigue) of Revelation –“
Whie we do not have the official numbers (there were no public Engagement Reports back then), from what we understand, there were a great deal of eyes on “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” Part 1 in July of 2021. This was seemingly due to many factors including the general nostalgic hype that He-Man had not been on television for almost 20 years, the incredible amount of tie-in merchandise that was made available, Kevin Smith pushing an incredible promotional blitz, and the awful pandemic keeping people home in front of their television looking for shows that reminded audiences of happier times.
Even Part 2 of “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” released four months later seemingly couldn’t compete with the ratings smash of Part 1, which is assumingly why the decider of success, the infamous Netflix algorithm, dictated to showrunner Kevin Smith that he can move forward with “Masters of the Universe: Revolution“….if…. the episode count was cut in half.
KEVIN SMITH: “What they learned from the algorithm and this is what they said to us, they break all the information down. They’re like overall you had too many episodes. Your show needs to be five episodes. And so they’re like, you can go again but it’s gotta be five episodes. And we’re like alright we can do that."
And yes, “Masters of the Universe: Revolution” did indeed rank among the Top 10 shows for 6 days (while “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” ranked in the Top 10 for only 3 days), but as we pointed out in a previous article, it is all about the strength of competition and longevity. (Case in point: There have been movies that were box office disappointments that have simultaneously opened #1 at the box office.).
Still, our hope was “Masters of the Universe: Revolution” garnered enough viewership to warrant a third and final animated series. (“Masters of the Universe: Rebellion” anyone?)
While no official statement from Mattel or Netflix has answered this third season question definitively, we perhaps can look to one of Netflix & Powerhouse Animation’s other shows that performed similarly to ‘Revolution’ for clues: Skull Island.
While other shows like “Castlevania Nocturne” had significantly outperformed ‘Masters of the Universe: Revolution” and will have another season debut early next year, thanks to Netflix’s most recent engagement report, the performance of Powerhouse Animation’s “Skull Island” that debuted June 22nd 2023, while still better, is a good comparison to ‘Revolution’:
While we are not privy to refined viewership data like how many views are repeat viewing and how many subscribers actually completed a series versus gave up mid-way, “Skull Island” modestly outperformed “Masters of the Universe: Revolution” in the same measurement of time (approximately 5+ months of release).
So what is the status for a Season 2 of “Skull Island” then? Well, it doesn’t look good. Seemingly, “Skull Island” Season 1 did not garner enough interest to warrant another go around.
This information was made public starting the Summer of 2023, when “Skull Island” series creator Brian Duffield engaged fans on social media and was very open about the factors needed for a potential Season 2.
Brian Duffield basically indicated that if enough people watched Season 1, a Season 2 would be greenlit by Netflix. And the scripts for “Skull Island” Season 2 were fully written and ready to go. But Netflix, as of that point, had not moved forward with the series.
These animated shows cost millions of dollars to produce and we can only assume that “Skull Island” Season 1 did not earn enough viewership for Netflix to justify the cost of doing it again.
Now fast forward to a year later in May of 2024, when Brian Duffield was asked again about a second season to “Skull Island“, the creator revealed a new possibility… Season 2 may come to fans in the form of a comic.
A fan’s questions on Twitter/X:
- Any updates on Season 2 of SKULL ISLAND?
- You said you’d do an animated Godzilla film for the Monsterverse. Would you do a Kong one as well?
- Furthermore, how about tackling a live-action Monsterverse project involving Kong, Godzilla, or both?
Answers from Brian Duffield:
Now if this sounds familiar, that is because a comic continuation has also been floated as a possible outlet for a follow-up to “Masters of the Universe: Revolution“, a series that (according to the engagement reports) reached even less viewers than “Skull Island”. So will a “Masters of the Universe: Rebellion or Redemption” come to us in the form of a limited comic series from Dark Horse Comics? It very well could. And as far as we understand it, Mattel has no rights issues using the character of She-Ra in their comics.
We don’t pretend to know the future. It may be a pipedream, but one wonders if “Masters of the Universe: Revolution” was not successful enough to warrant a third season, could Mattel develop a new secret sequel... an independent She-Ra animated series with Dreamworks, indirectly connected to Revelation & Revolution like the movie “Split” was a secret sequel to the Bruce Willis film “Unbreakable”.
Regardless of what happens, we are certainly already thankful for the 15 episodes and four comic series tie-ins we already received in this new Netflix Masters of the Universe… universe… and look forward to more in whatever form that may come! (We are still hoping for another series!)
if you want to catch up with the Comics & Shows in the ”Masters of the Universe: Revelation & Revolution” Continuity, check out our media checklist: HERE
We’ll see you next time!
Let’s face it – the silence is deafening. If we were to get a third season, it would have been announced by now. It’s not going to happen. It doesn’t make sense to wait multiple years between short seasons because there is zero momentum, and people have short memories. Even if by some miracle a new season were to be announced TODAY, it wouldn’t hit our screens until late 2026 at the earliest – who honestly cares after gaps that long? Might as well reboot entirely if that’s the case. At best I could see them try to ride a wave of MOTU popularity if the live action movie comes out and isn’t a massive flop like the ’87 one…
Negative realism aside, I’d be ok if they decided to continue Revolution with a 6 issue comic series and then leave that universe behind, if for nothing else than to give fans proper closure on that story arc.
@durendal Agreed. It makes no sense to release a show with no monarchy and the King dead after all those new fans come in a year before thanks to the new movie.
I can accept Revolution as the finale to it. But if they manage to put on their big boy pants and get the licences that should never had been separated they need to proceed as teased I really hope they bring more. They really seemed to have figured the formular to cool MOTU out by Season 2 of their show.
Also: IMVHO its by now already a few months overdue that we get Masterverse Deluxe figures of these two:
And I say that as someone whos mainly into Origins figures.
AJ honey you are friends with the people who made this show. Can’t you just ask them?
So very sorry @Ninadust but any private conversations I have in life MOTU related or not have to stay private… otherwise I wouldn’t have any friends! 😄 Besides, people have careers and it wouldn’t be my business to ask and then share (unless I was directly asked to.) So articles like these have to be built solely on public information alone already out in the ether. Hope that helps!
You can’t blame me for trying 😆
We have the movie coming so I’m okay if they continue it as a comic. Don’t get me wrong I would prefer that they did a series but Revolution felt like a nice series conclusion if it has to be. Eternia is a democracy. Teela and He-Man are together and Skeletor is no more.
I don’t know exactly what my feelings are about this… uncertainty on the future of the series. Revolution has been a fair second season, and a decent conclusion to the modern adventures of Teela and her friends. Regarding the movie, the fact that for some mysterious reason the producers want it to begin on Earth with Adam as a white collar obliviated of all his memories doesn’t click at all with my personal views on the “Masters" Universe. I think it will be a huge flop. If a third season depends on the success of the new movie imho we can peacefully give it up for good. My final thought is that I will create my own MOTU adventures in my mind, with my imagination and rules, with the aid of the beautiful New Eternia and Origins figures I have collected this last year. I have zero expectations towards the modern revenue dictated rules that tend to play safe & ruin franchises.
My hopes were crushed once they said that movie was going to be starting on Earth. However, I also thought that the Barbie movie was going to flop, but obviously, that didn’t happen. There is definitely a chance that the movie ends up doing well.
Other than making the movie animated (which is 100% what they should be doing in the first place), I’d also love to see a Small Soldiers type of movie in MOTU.
Here’s a fan project made last year that is an excellent representation of what Mattel could do with MOTU if they just pulled their heads together and gave the fans what they want. At the end of the day the best way to sell merchandise and create new fans of the series is to give them what they’re asking for. Lets not reinvent the wheel here.
The Small Soldiers video is damn awesome. I loved it. It would be cool a MOTU themed video like that, even if I fear it would be very expensive to make, so Mattel, Netflix and all the producers who want to capitalize on it would probably be extremely cautious under every point of view, rendering this project almost impossible.
I am amazed we got what we got. This ain’t Transformers or TMNT.
Somebody go bug Ted Biaselli or Rob David for the intel 😆
I think the lack of Masterverse figures says a lot about Mattel’s view on the show.
I’m loving the New Eternia line, so I hope they will keep updating it with new figures. Some characters still have no New eternia representation: Teela, Scare Glow, King Grayskull, King Randor, King Hiss and the snake men, just to name some.
@alteredquantum i was mainly talking about the lack of characters from Revolution. At the end of the series He-Man, Teela and Skeletor both got major upgrades, but haven’t gotten figures yet.
@smitty-81 That’s a good point. Mattel never misses an opportunity to shove the latest variants of the main A-listers down our throats, so it’s very telling that we haven’t at least seen the “final transformation" versions of He-Man and Teela yet. You know they have no confidence in the retail prospects of Revolution themed variants when they don’t even put He-Man out…
Maybe this is because of the tepid success of the second season, in terms of number of viewers! Or maybe it is just a matter of time (even if this is very less likely). I think that the New Eternia line has more charm than the Revolution line because it offers an alternative to the Classics-Origins more vintage oriented lines of figures, so it keeps going.
I like the secret sequel idea. They can do it in a way where we know this brand new She-Ra show is connected but newcomers have no idea. It can begin with Adora’s kidnapping and fill in her entire backstory. Then in season two you connect it to Revolution.
I’ve said for awhile I think a comic is the most likely outcome for season 3. Ultimately, not only does Netflix have to want to do a season 3, but so does Mattel. I don’t think Mattel wants to waste the resources on a show not tied into their movie, however. It would have been nice to see Teela and He-Man finally married in cartoon form, which I think would have likely happened. Now, it will just be in the expanded universe again.
Castlevania just had its new season announced, so a new season of Masters of the Universe is not entirely out of the question.
Agreed …I still hold out hope . I can’t remember where I read it but it was when the creators were at a panel and they said they had some MOTU animation in the works .
@nittzare Here is my the link my bro
https://foreternia.com/2024/07/we-are-not-done-mattel-vp-rob-david-says-more-animation-for-masters-of-the-universe-is-in-development
AJ also talked about it with Teddy B towards the end of this vid but not much came out of it
It sounds to me that they are looking into making a new cartoon more in line with the new movie than anything.
@firefly Yea that would make the most sense. Connect the movie the cartoon and the new She-Ra series and Amazon holds our dreams.