Amazon Studios Developing ‘She-Ra’ Live-Action Series

Attention all fans of the LGBTQ-inclusive, acclaimed, Netflix animated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power! Amazon Studios confirmed with Variety it is developing a live-action series based on the characters from the Mattel’s Master of the Universe franchise.

While the news is still fresh, and there is currently no writer attached to the show, Variety says that it will be its own, standalone story, with no connections to the previous animated series. Dreamworks Animation, producers on the animated reboot, will executive produce the upcoming live-action show.

The animated series premiered in 2018, and immediately, viewers of all ages saw the show exploring something many other children’s programs (with the exception of a few shows, like Steven Universe or Legend of Korra) have yet to tackle: LGBTQ representation.

The Netflix reboot was developed by Noelle Stevenson, who worked to transform the initial 80s characters into awkward, relatable teens, embracing a wide variety of genders, races, and body types. The show features multiple characters in same-gender relationships, characters who defy traditional gender roles, and a nonbinary character, Double Trouble, voiced by transgender writer and activist Jacob Tobia.

However, at the core of the series, the characters are just people (or, you know, whatever given species they may be, given the fantasy universe), working to find themselves and succeed in the world, without forcing their queerness, or other elements of their identities, upon the viewers; the show simply lets the characters act and be exactly as they are, working to create a better representation of how our society, and children, operate and interact today.

“So that’s what I was trying to do—for little queer kids to see that this is normal, that these are stories that can happen and that exist, and that can center them and make them feel seen and understood,” Stevenson says regarding the representation in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The series wrapped in May 2020, running for five seasons and 52 total episodes.

The initial She-Ra: Princess of Power series from the 80s is often regarded as a very feminist cartoon, especially for its time. She-Ra didn’t have as many bulging muscles as her brother, He-Man (a sibling connection that was completely absent from the reboot), but she was just as strong, fast, and tough. She had an arguably more sinister enemy, facing the fascist dictator Hordak, while He-Man’s arch-nemesis was the comical, typically incompetent Skeletor.

She-Ra was surrounded by a group of strong-willed, female supporting characters, and the episodes consistently pass the Bechdel test, which measures the representation of women in fiction, asking if a work features at least two women who talk about something other than a man. She became a queer icon over time, with many fans theorizing that she was a closeted lesbian. For many of those fans, the reboot finally allowed She-Ra to stand strongly in her power, openly embracing her identity and sexuality.

The upcoming series will also be the first live-action portrayal of the character. Hopefully it takes a page from the book of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and continues to offer much-needed representation, where other media often misses the mark.

Photo courtesy of Netflix