Kevin Smith tells Comic-Con@Home why Teela is the center of Masters Of The Universe: Revelation

It’s been roughly two decades since He-Man, Orko, and Skeletor graced the small screen. But by the power of Grayskull, today, that changes. The Kevin Smith-created Masters Of The Universe: Revelations launched on Netflix today, so Smith hosted some of the cast for a Comic-Con@Home panel. Joining Smith was Chris Wood (He-Man), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Teela), Tiffany Smith (Andra), and Tony Todd (Scare Glow).

But with all the excitement surrounding Prince Adam and his bulging alter-ego He-Man, Smith emphasized the importance of Teela in his adaptation. Teela is on every episode of the original He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon, as he’s quick to point out. For the reboot, he said that Teela and her not knowing that Prince Adam is He-Man is the “fulcrum upon which we built this epic.”

“Teela, who was there in every episode, side-by-side with He-Man, and also there to protect [Prince Adam] was the one person left out of the secret,” Smith said during the panel. “Based on that, Teela was basically the center of the story that we were going to tell. It’s a He-Man story, it’s a Masters Of The Universe story, but it’s watching Teela’s journey.”

At her most generous, Sarah Michelle Gellar turns Smith’s praise of her performance to her praise of Chris Wood’s Prince Adam. “I just throught it was so beautiful,” Sarah Michelle Gellar said of the show scripts. “I think I read the first three right away, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened. I was so invested[…]I think Chris before, you’re being modest. I think there’s one thing you forgot about what you gave Adam, which is depth. Adam was a typical cartoon character and you humanized him in a way that then everybody else’s story, specifically Teela.”

Masters Of The Universe: Revelation is getting Smith some of the best reviews of his career. Writing for The A.V. Club, Kevin Johnson, “Smith presents Eternia in smoother, sharper, much more dynamic animation, but also maintains the clunky exposition dumps, stilted dialogue, and even the choppy editing of the original show—at least in episode one. A risky, admirable move at the end of the premiere pushes the characters and overall tone in a much more modern, emotionally honest direction in subsequent episodes.”

You can watch the panel below. In addition, the first five episodes of the 10-part limited series are now streaming on Netflix.