She-Ra and the Princesses of Poweris now available in its 13-episode, Season 1 entirety onNetflix! This new DreamWorks TV series reimagines the classic and iconic 80s hero in a modern way for an all-new generation. Originally created by Filmation writersLarry DiTillioandJ. Michael Straczynskifor the Mattel property, this new, contemporary spin comes courtesy of showrunnerNoelle Stevenson, the Eisner Award-winning creator of comicsNimonaandLumberjanes. (Be sure to catchmy review here!)
I had a chance to chat with Stevenson ahead ofShe-Ra’s debut on Netflix. We talked about the timeliness of the series and how She-Ra’s return as a powerful hero and symbol of strength for girls and women (and everyone, really) is long overdue. Since the characters and their designs get quite the overhaul from the original 80s series, both visually and in their defining personalities, we also talked about the process of finding the right look and tone for Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Catra, and more. And though the new series is aimed at a younger audience, the nuanced and mature take on complicated relationships makes it well worth a watch for all ages.
If you’re on the fence about checking out this new take onShe-Ra, this teaser clip featuring Adora’s transformation into the title hero should convince you to give it a shot:
Fighting Catra won’t be easy for Adora. She’s going to need more than the power of She-Ra on her side. Watch She-Ra, Glimmer, and Bow band together in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, on Netflix November 13th!
Why is this the right time forShe-Ra and the Princesses of Power?
Noelle Stevenson: I think it’s been the right time for a while, honestly. That’s what’s so exciting about getting to do this now; it feels like something that has been overdue. I feel very fortunate, very privileged to be able to be the one to bring this to a whole new generation.
Right now, I really want to bring relief, and sanctuary, a safe place for viewers to escape from the real world while also tackling a lot of the issues that we are dealing with in the real world in a way that feels real and empowering.
How did this opportunity come about?
Stevenson: I started out in comics. I had published a few books of my own and then I stepped into animation writing. When DreamWorks was looking for someone to develop a reboot ofShe-Ra, the development exec Beth Cannon was a fan of my comics work. She reached out to me in the interest of getting me to pitch my take on the series. I really jumped at the opportunity, it was such an awesome opportunity to get, and I pitched my take on it. I wrote the pilot and the show bible, and eventually became the showrunner and developed the show for them. That was my path.
When you were putting together the pitch and the bible, were sketches, storyboards, and concept art part of the whole thing?
Stevenson: Early on, when it was just me pitching it, I did sketches of my own. They were less what my vision for the aesthetics of the show would be because it’s not really in my personal style, and more just a way to supply one example of what it could look like, and to bring a little bit of color and life to the show bible. A lot of what I went into, I did a deeper dive into the characters, the mythology of the world, and general world-building. I pulled inspiration, I made a vision board from illustrators that I found inspirational, other things that I found inspiration in just to paint a visual of overall what I wanted the world to look like before we hired any artists to eventually go on to develop the world of the show.
What was your approach to the redesign process of the characters, walking that balance between honoring the original and freshening things up?
Stevenson: Obviously there’s a lot that goes into designing characters, especially based on an iconic property like this. So once I was working on developing the show, we reached out to a lot of illustrators [and] character designers that I found inspirational and had them do blue sky, exploratory illustration work to find the look of the show. We had a bunch of people do character designs, really pushing the boundaries of what they could do and what the vision was, get a little weird with it and explore avenues to develop the characters that might not be the immediate first thought of updating the characters. We had a bunch of character designs from that, we had a bunch of environments for the world, and that was sort of our jumping-off point. We would take some of these character designs that were really out there, like, “Okay, maybe this goes a little too far away from classicShe-Ra, but here’s this one element that’s really cool. She’s wearing these awesome sneaker-boots, she has these shorts … this is something that feels really fresh and new and exciting.” There were a lot of eyes on it early on, there was a lot of going back and forth. It was really just trying to find this fresh take with all of this really creative, inspirational illustration work in the beginning.
Is there one character you identify with the most? Is there one character you wish you were more like?
Stevenson: I think when it comes to the main four characters, all of them sort of apply. I think between Adora, Catra, and Glimmer, I relate to them all, very much in different ways. Bow is a character I wish I was more like. Bow is very aspirational for me in the way that he’s outwardly focused and very community-focused, very much about love and bringing people together and trying to stay positive … and working very hard to stay positive.
While Adora is aspirational in some ways and also just incredibly relatable in others; someone like Catra might represent darker impulsive and destructive tendencies. I think between all four of them, Adora represents my anxiety and drive and ambition, while Catra is more like the fear and the anger, and Glimmer is the insecurity and the desire to rise up and be a leader, and then Bow is this kind of glue that ties it all together, a person who’s such a benefit to others to be around; that’s kind of the person that I want to become more like.
There are a lot of solid relationships of all kinds explored in this first season; what are the core relationship messages you’re trying to get across?
Stevenson: I think the show is about relationships in a lot of different ways. I think Adora and Catra’s is probably the core relationship of the show, the hero and the villain, the dark and the light, even though you see that they started out not very different … they were close to each other. I think, overall, that there’s a lot of exploration in this show in general of both relying on the people around you but also realizing when to sort of walk away, draw boundaries and protect yourself when a relationship, even as much as you might love the person, is causing you pain and heartache and stopping you from being the person you’re trying to be. I don’t think it ever is something easy or a clean and simple thing to do. We see it play out in so many different ways; the characters hurt each other without even meaning to, without even knowing that they are … or they hurt each other intentionally to cover up some hurt of their own.
One of the throughlines of the show is the richness of that experience, of having relationships with other people, what that can mean, the work that goes into cultivating healthy relationships, what happens when both parties mean well but they might still hurt each other’s feelings, what do you do? We see that play out through Adora and Catra, through Bow and Glimmer, through Glimmer and Angella, through Adora and Shadow Weaver, Catra and Shadow Weaver … we see all of these different relationships. I’m just very interested in that aspect and that’s something that we explore actively throughout the series.
This is your first time as a showrunner, correct?
Stevenson: Yes.
How was that experience? Was it something you’d like to do more of?
Stevenson: It’s been a real ride, that’s for sure. I was really young when I got this job and it was just sort of this thing where, “Okay, let’s just keep this going as long as I can before someone catches on that I don’t know what I’m doing and kicks me out!” But it’s honestly been transformative. When I started out, comics is very much a solitary pursuit where, even when you’re working with a team in comics, you’re very rarely in the same space. Being a part of a show like this, it is hugely a group effort. If the team is not working, if that collaboration is not there with the team, you don’t really have a show. It’s called on me to be a different type of person than I had ever had to be before, which is a leader, someone who brings people together, someone who mediates, who compromises, who communicates actively and often; those are things that I’ve had to learn on the job because they weren’t really things I’d had experience with before. I think that I have grown so much to this job. I’m so proud of everything that the show is and everything that this crew has done to make it real.
About how long do we have to wait to find out more about Adora’s parents and how she ended up with Shadow Weaver and the Horde?
Stevenson: It is something that plays out in Etheria throughout the show, but it’s something that we have to keep at arm’s length. This story is not about He-Man; it’s much less about Adora’s connection to He-Man than the original show was. So while we do get into the mystery of where Adora is from and the lore of the civilization that is the remnants of which are all over Etheria, He-Man himself is not a huge part of this show. That’s not something that I think fans should be on the edge of their seats for.
What do you hope audiences take away from the experience of watching ‘She-Ra’?
Stevenson: I really want audiences, especially girls, women, everyone of every gender, I want them to find something that they relate to, find the character that speaks to them, and find the character that’s not only aspirational but that they see the flaws, they see the sort of messiness of those characters, that it’s okay to be messy, that it’s okay to make mistakes and have failures as long as you’re fighting. And to rely on the people around you to help you; you can’t be strong all of the time and you can’t fix everything every single time, it’s much more complicated that. Just taking away that it’s okay to mess up and make mistakes as long as you don’t stop trying.
Can you update readers on the status of ‘Nimona’ and ‘Lumberjanes’?
Stevenson: Yeah!Nimonais still in production over at Fox and Blue Sky, which is really exciting.Lumberjanesis still in development, so hopefully you’ll be seeing both of those things very soon!
Watch She-Ra and the Princesses of Power on Netflix now!
