Kevin Smith Says Internet Backlash Left Him With Only A Few “Good Memories” From ‘Masters Of The Universe: Revelation’ Premiere
Though the internet has largely moved on in step with the passing of time, Kevin Smith says that the backlash against his handling of Netflix’s Masters of the Universe has left him with few, if any “good memories” relating to the Netflix series’ premiere.
As it unfolded across the summer of 2021, the controversy surrounding the animated return to Greyskull arose from the fact that despite being billed as a direct sequel to the original 1983 Filmation cartoon, Revelation instead presented audiences with a modernized take on Eternia, replete with race-swaps, tired ‘strong female’ design choices, and the forced side-lining of He-Man in order to allow Teela to take center stage.
Taken aback by these changes, fans took to social media to express their frustrations, with some even going so far as to publicly filing their complaints in the comments of his various posts – And while the sheer amount of backlash makes it understandable why Smith reacted as such, his subsequent mocking of critics and writing them off as immature children was the worst way he could have handled the situation, especially as it served only to boost his ego at the expense of the series’ reputation.
Though Eternia is currently far from his mind, Smith offered this new reflection on his post-launch MotU experience while looking back at his career during a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter’s Brian Davids, as held in honor of Dogma‘s 25th anniversary.
Amidst a larger discussion about the current state of his View Askewniverse cinematic universe, Davids raised the topic of Smith’s proposed Twilight of the Mallrats, which he had begun working on in 2020 but was unfortunately forced to put on hold following the 2024 death of original Mallrats star Shannen Doherty, and noted that the late actress’ best friend, Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar, had actually agreed with the director’s previous proposal of “asking Sarah to step in for Shannen“.
In turn, Smith asserted, “You’re going to make me cry; I didn’t know that. She’s a good egg, man.”
Continuing in his praise of Gellar, the director further recalled their time working together on Netflix’s He-Man revival, in which she provided the voice of Teela, and at that point admitted, “I got to work with her on the Masters of the Universe: Revelation cartoon, and we were at a party at [EP] Ted Biaselli’s house when the show launched. It’s one of the only good memories I have from that show launching because the internet then came after me.”
“So Sarah was there, and I was like, ‘It’s wild that it’s taken us this long to meet and work together.’ And she said, ‘We met years ago. I auditioned for Mallrats.’ And I was like, ‘What!?’ And she was like, ‘Trish the Dish.’ And I was like, ‘I had no fucking idea.’ So hearing that she responded positively to the idea of her playing Shannen’s part, Rene, it’s going to make me cry.”
At current, despite the interest from both Smith and Gellar, Twilight of the Mallrats has yet to enter active development, with the director lamenting, “I don’t know anybody that’s going to move that piece, man.”
“The only person who moves that piece is somebody in Universal, and I keep hoping that I live long enough until somebody who grew up as a Mallrats fan is in a position of power. Or maybe if it’s someone’s last year there, they’ll be like, “It doesn’t matter what happens now,” and then they agree to make a Mallrats sequel, sequel series or what have you.”
