Amazon MGM Studios’s Classic Streak Casts First 'Voltron' Movie Paladin & Nabs Live Action 'She-Ra' Series Writer
Amazon MGM Studios’s Classic Streak Casts First 'Voltron' Movie Paladin & Nabs Live Action 'She-Ra' Series Writer
We’re gonna win in the end
DreamWorks Animation in the streaming era has actually become quite spread with their television series, with their Netflix relationship lasting the longest. It’s one that has allowed them to utilize several properties they own through Classic Media, or as they rebranded it, DreamWorks Classics, rebooting Voltron with Voltron: Legendary Defender for 78 episodes from 2016-2018 and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe spinoff She-Ra: Princess of Power with the disconnected She-Ra and the Princesses of Power which ran for 52 episodes from 2018 to 2020. Now it seems both franchises’ futures are in live action with the help of Amazon MGM Studios.
The She-Ra series that was reported to be in early development back in September 2021 has found its writer in Heidi Schreck (though that singular writers are so common nowadays is definitely an issue). She will also executive produce, with director Nicole Kassell and Robin Sweet. The logline is very light on details that would potentially differentiate it from other iterations, calling it “an epic fantasy series about an orphaned young woman who leads a revolution to save her planet from annihilation.”
Schreck is best known for writing and starring in the play What the Constitution Means to Me, which had an extended sold-out run on Broadway in 2019. It earned two Tony nominations and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Her television credits include Billions and Nurse Jackie at Showtime, Dispatches from Elsewhere at AMC, and Prime Video’s I Love Dick starring Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon.
And then, we have a pilot. Or as the Voltron franchise puts it, a paladin. Daniel Quinn-Toye, a 21-year-old stage veteran with only two screen credits to his name, has nabbed a starring role in the studio’s live action adaptation of the beloved mecha anime Voltron, the American version of the franchise born from dubbing Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV into Voltron: Defender of the Universe in the mid-1980s. The premise centered on five young pilots in a battalion of Robot Lions that join together to form Voltron, a giant mech. Quinn-Toye attended London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and the Dance School of Scotland, was the understudy to Tom Holland in the West End production of Romeo & Juliet this past spring, while ultimately playing Paris, one of Juliet’s suitors.
The Voltron film is being directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and aiming for a fall Australia shoot. Thurber is also writing the script with Ellen Shanman and among the producers with Todd Lieberman via Hidden Pictures, World Events Productions’ Bob Koplar, and Hobie Films’ David Hoberman. Plot details are unclear, so much that casting is being described with “male lead” and “female lead” and no real indication of there being a Sven (or Shiro), Hunk, Pidge (of either gender), Keith, Lance, or Princess Allura, and that’s just of the heroes, how many of them will be present and/or renamed seems rather possible.
One might find the idea of a She-Ra series being made at Amazon MGM Studios intriguing, considering the studio is now working on the long-gestating Masters of the Universe movie directed by Travis Knight starring Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam and He-Man. Princesses of Power and both He-Man animated series, one of which being a 15-episode direct continuation of the original series, were very light on referencing each other’s lore zones if any references were made at all. He-Man’s still very much in Mattel’s control and it doesn’t seem like the entanglements will be resolved any time soon. Both projects will continue to be standalone and disconnected from each other. Amazon MGM had only picked up Masters of the Universe in November, and has set a release date for June 5, 2026.
Both She-Ra and DreamWorks Animation have dabbled in live action before, though for the former this series is the first major film or TV production. The same year that the infamous Dolph Lundgren-starring film was released, 1987 saw the Masters of the Universe Power Tour live stage show put on across the United States and Canada, with 19 consecutive performances at New York's Radio City Music Hall, starring both He-Man and She-Ra. DWA is actually credited with having produced the 2015 Richie Rich sitcom for Netflix through AwesomenessTV back when DreamWorks Animation owned it. And there’s Shrek: The Musical and next year the beginning of its franchises being mined for live action film remakes, How to Train Your Dragon.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter