Kevin Smith Shares What Masters Of The Universe Revelation Backlash Felt Like

Kevin Smith shares what the Masters of the Universe: Revelation backlash felt like upon the show’s premiere on Netflix in Summer 2021. Developed by Smith, the animated series serves as a sequel to the 1983-85 Filmation series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe while simultaneously ignoring the events of The New Adventures of He-Man. The story sees Skeletor once again attacking Castle Grayskull, only to actually succeed and cause the demise of himself, He-Man and the source of all magic in existence, leaving it up to Teela to solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power.

Smith assembled an ensemble cast for Masters of the Universe: Revelation including Chris Wood as Prince Adam/He-Man, Mark Hamill as Skeletor, Liam Cunningham as Duncan/Man-At-Arms, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela and Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn/Majestra. Development on the sequel series was first announced at Power-Con in 2019 as one of two Masters of the Universe projects Netflix was working on, with Smith’s being an adult-oriented show while also working on a CGI remake aimed at kids. Masters of the Universe: Revelation debuted on Netflix in Summer 2021 to rave reviews from critics, though not all were pleased with the show upon its arrival.

While chatting exclusively with Screen Rant to discuss the documentary based on his life, Clerk., Smith reflected on the Masters of the Universe: Revelation backlash. The filmmaker recalled seeing the large wave of negative reviews on social media and feeling like he “was at the eye of a storm,” crediting the director of Clerk. Malcolm Ingram for helping pull him out from the storm. See what Smith exclusively shard below:

“Not to brag, but on Netflix, I had a program called Masters of the Universe drop the first half of their season and none of us were prepared for the very vocal minority that went after the series very loudly. So if you know anything about social media, if you click on something, social media is going to feed you more, so I was clicking on all the negatives and all that was coming at me was the sea of, ‘You f-ck-d up my childhood, you piece of sh-t. How could you remove the Iron Cross?’ Just on and on people shredding me for making Masters of the Universe when I honestly believe in my heart of hearts I was like, ‘This is the most faithful telling of these characters’ tales since Mattel minted their backstories.’ I did not think we were upsetting the applecart, so where I stood, I was at the eye of a storm and everybody hated my guts and we had failed, that’s what my timeline was telling me.

Malcolm [Ingram] calls me out of the blue, he texts me first and he goes, ‘Hey, congrats, you’ve got the most-talked about show on the planet right now, it’s getting great reviews and everybody loves it, you must be so happy.’ I immediately put down everything I was doing and call Malcolm to be like, ‘Is that your read of the situation?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, all I see is positivity and stuff, what are you seeing?’ I was like, ‘All I’m seeing is people that hate my guts,’ and he’s like, ‘Well stop clicking on negative things,’ and I was like, ‘So, Malcolm, is your perspective from outside of this that I shouldn’t kill myself?’ He’s like, ‘No, I think you’re fine. I think anybody would be enviable of the amount of coverage the show is getting. I’m gonna watch it now the review’s have been great.'”

Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation became the subject of a review bombing from fans of the original series upon its premiere this past summer, with many taking umbrage with the decision to focus the story more on Teela than strictly He-Man/Prince Adam. The series also drew controversy amongst audiences for the death of some iconic characters from the original show, an element critics praised for raising the stakes of the story and subverting expectations. The review bombing of Masters of the Universe: Revelation has been compared to the likes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Captain Marvel, which divided fanbases for their different approaches to the source material than what they were looking for.

Social media algorithms are a tricky subject in giving users more of what they’ve clicked on, even if it’s not inherently what they want to see. Smith’s fall down the rabbit hole of negative reviews for Masters of the Universe: Revelation may have been heartbreaking for him to see, though things are looking far better for him on the other side of things as Part Two is receiving generally better reviews from audiences, sitting at a 55 percent approval rating from viewers in comparison to Part One’s 39 percent. Audiences can catch up with Masters of the Universe: Revelation streaming on Netflix now.

About The Author

Grant Hermanns
(1560 Articles Published)

See also  Cruel Summer Cast & Character Guide

Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

More From Grant Hermanns