What those “Masters of the Universe” end-credits scenes mean for a potential sequel — and why one almost didn’t happen

Key Points

• Masters of the Universe, in theaters now, features two end-credits scenes.

• Director Travis Knight explains the significance of both and how they influence a potential sequel.

• Knight also reveals why the final scene almost didn’t make it into the movie.

This article contains spoilers about the end of Masters of the Universe.

We learn all about how Prince Adam of Eternia (Nicholas Galitzine) — a.k.a. He-Man — ended up on Earth as a child in the new Masters of the Universe, far away from the evil reaches of Skeletor. But what about twin sister, Princess Adora — a.k.a. She-Ra?

In the post-credits scene of the movie (in theaters now), Duncan/Man-at-Arms (Idris Elba) and Adam’s mother, Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley), are looking out over a restored Eternos, following He-Man’s epic defeat of Skeletor (Jared Leto), who had taken control of the once colorful and lively city and turned it to dark rubble.

Queen Marlena tells Duncan that her hope has run out for reuniting her children, but, trying to keep her spirits up, tells her that “perhaps one day she’ll come back to us too.”

The scene cuts to a woman, who we only see from behind and in profile, with long blonde hair, wearing a red cape, and holding her own powerful sword.

In the history of the Masters of the Universe comics and animated series, Adora was kidnapped as a baby by Hordak and raised on a different planet, Etheria, as part of his Evil Horde. When she eventually learns the truth about who she really is, her alliance turns and she vows to fight back against them.

Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight says he and his longtime collaborator, writer Chris Butler, had hoped to somehow include She-Ra in the movie, but they weren’t sure it would actually happen.

“Mattel created the character, but it’s a little bit like Marvel in the ’90s, how some of that stuff is carved out all over the place, and so it was a complicated rights issue,” Knight explains to Entertainment Weekly. “And so we could use her, [then] we couldn’t use her. She was in the movie, she was out of the movie. We always held tight to like, hopefully we could have her in there and we wrote the scene in such a way that it was modular, that we could use it if we got the chance and if we couldn’t.”

Once they got the official green light to include her, though, there was another problem. “It was really late in production and we had no money left,” he reveals. “So we had to scramble to build a set with, like, nothing left. And my production designer, Guy Dyas —who’s a brilliant dude, by the way — he was putting s— together himself. He was just grabbing stuff from everywhere, like parts of vacuum cleaners, just to make a set. And then we had to fit it into a day that we had a lot of other things going on. We only had a couple hours in the morning to shoot the scene. I had so many pinch-me moments in the making of this film, and that was certainly one of them to see her on set.”

If Knight & Co. get the greenlight for a sequel, he confirms that She-Ra will “play a huge part.”

“Adora, who becomes She-Ra, is in many ways the equal of He-Man and in some ways an improvement upon some aspects of He-Man,” Knight says. “She’s always cast a huge shadow in the mythology of Masters of the Universe — important to me, important to people that I love, and I’m finding important to so many other folks. When she popped up on screen in the cinema, the reaction was…I was absolutely stunned at just how the crowd erupted, which means people are hungry to see her on the big screen.”

As for who plays her in the end-credits scene, Knight won’t divulge, but he insists he knows “exactly who would fill those boots, and we’ll see if we get a chance.”

It’s a chance Galitzine is already looking forward to.

“I had so much fun playing this character. Actually, more than fun. It was a very meaningful experience for me making this movie — obviously, the biggest movie of my career to date, but also just the relationships I formed and how in love with the character I am and the world that was built,” the British actor says. “There was a sincerity about this film. It’s fun, it’s camp, but it’s just a very special project. And so the notion of revisiting these characters is very appealing in regard to She-Ra. It’s just another side to this coin in this world of Masters of the Universe that people love, and people love that character as well. And so the prospect of taking on the villains of the universe with my sister, it’s a very intriguing prospect.”

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As for who that villain will be? Well, Hordak seems a logical guess. But then there’s that other scene that appears halfway through the credits, where Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie), who fled Castle Grayskull in the midst of the final fight, quietly reappears to recover Skeletor’s skull — all that remains of his destroyed body — before we hear his evil laugh once again.

But how will she restore him to his former menacing glory? Is he immortal, or are her powers just that strong?

“Skeletor is definitely not immortal,” Knight confirms, “but he is also kind of a living emoting skull. So in leaving the door open for his return, if we’re to be so lucky to tell more stories in this universe, my creative partner Chris Butler and I, that was something we wanted to make sure [was an option] because we both love Skeletor so much. And even though, yes, we want to see him get his ass kicked by He-Man, get the s— kicked out of him, he’s just so much fun that we didn’t want that to be the end of his story if we could help it. So we do leave the door slightly ajar so that we could bring him back. And if we’re to be so lucky, I’ve got clear ideas on how we can do that.”

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly