Posted in: Netflix, Preview, streaming, Trailer, TV | Tagged: Aimee Carrero, animation, bleeding cool, cable, cartoon, Dreamworks TV, hordak, Horde, netflix, Netflix animated series, Noelle Stevenson, She-Ra, She-Ra And The Princess of Power Season 2, streaming, television, tv

'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power': Forget Winter – Season 2 Is Coming! [PREVIEW]

The second season of Dreamworks' excellent She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is only days away. But before they take the fight to Netflix for a second time in their bid to rid Etheria of the Horde once and for all, Bleeding Cool is here to arm you with everything you need to prepare for Adora's (Aimee Carrero) next adventure.

Pull up a seat, call over a friend, and buckle up for a rapid fire tour of what we know, what we don't know, what we think we know, and what we wish we knew about Season 2 of She-Ra.

"Firmly at the lead of the Princess Alliance, Adora embarks on a quest of self-discovery to learn more about her past and her future as She-Ra. With Catra rising the ranks of the Horde, the Rebellion must fight to thwart her next attack."

As the first season of She-Ra came to a close we saw the Princesses of Power unite to strike a crushing blow to the Horde army. However, Hordak (Keston John) has now promoted Catra (AJ Michalka) to lead the Horde forces against the Princess-led rebellion. In an interview with ET, show-runner Noelle Stevenson stated that while the show's freshman season was about forming the Princess Alliance, season two will dig down into the personal relationships between the characters:

"Hero versus villain, an alliance is formed, the world is saved — we did that. Now it's playing within that structure and figuring out individually what each character's motivation, wants and inferiorities are, what their relationships to each other are, setting up interesting new relationships that we might not have necessarily thought of initially, like, between Scorpia and Seahawk, which turned out to be so much fun. It's scary, figuring out what's the next step but also really fun and exciting."

Catra is no longer pulling punches when it comes to Adora. In the clip above – the longest we have seen so far from the new season – Catra is doing everything she can to take the fight to Adora and defeat the Princesses. Without her best friend to watch her back, Catra has seemingly decided to go with the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy when it comes to the Horde. Still wary of Hordak's intentions, Catra has found herself with a level of power and self-determination that was never possible when she was under Shadow Weaver's (Lorraine Toussaint) thumb. I look forward to seeing how the formerly anti-social soldier deals with command. She can no longer check out until the last moment: leadership and accountability take work.

Last season, many fans found themselves hoping for a romantic relationship to grow from Adora and Catra's complicated friendship. While Stevenson is known for incorporating LGBT relationships in her work, the creator has been largely silent on the romantic undertones of Catra and Adora's relationship. In an interview with Polygon last year, Stevenson encouraged fans to continue watching the dynamics of the Catra/Adora friendship develop without answering the will-they/won't-they question from the interviewer.

Everything we have seen so far from She-Ra season 2 shows Adora and Catra growing farther apart, not closer. As Catra is working with Scorpia (Lauren Ash) and Entrapta (Christine Woods) to attack the Princess Alliance, Adora is leading the Princesses and learning more about being the She-Ra. While it is possible that something happens to bring the former friends back together, I can't imagine it happens any time soon.

Another tidbit that we know about She-Ra's sophomore season is that Adora will be exploring the history of the She-Ra. In the previous bot attack clip we saw She-Ra's sword morphing into different objects – seemingly out of the Princess's control. In the above clip, Swift Wind (Adam Ray) sings that he and Adora are on a mission to "fix something that Mara broke" – indicating a storyline involving the previous She-Ra. While in the Season 2 trailer, we see Adora approaching Light Hope (Morla Gorrondona) in the First Ones temple. All of these things together indicate that in order to fully harness She-Ra's powers, Adora will need to delve into the Princess of Power's past.

In exploring She-Ra's past, Adora will also have to face her own past and her own feelings on leading the Princess Alliance. Adora and the Princesses used to be the scrappy underdogs, freedom fighters looking to scare away the evil Horde. Now, Adora finds herself leading a team of diverse, passionate Princesses with likely divergent viewpoints. Awe-inspiring on the battlefield, how will Adora deal with the Alliance in the meeting room? Stevenson explained to ET that this season, Adora will be exploring what it means to be the Princess of Power:

"So much of what we tried to do with this show was examine what the word power meant. Is it just being very strong? Is it having control of other people? Is it being a leader? You have someone like Adora, who's raised to believe that she can solve any problem by hitting it really hard, and suddenly she's in this role of leadership and has a responsibility. She's afraid of how strong she is, the power that she has, and her ability to hurt people, and she's trying really hard not to do that,"

Depicting women in positions of power is still rather rare on television. I look forward to seeing how She-Ra deals with the interpersonal relationships and challenges that come with a powerful woman leading other powerful women (and men). One of the best aspects of the show's first season was its ability to build well-rounded, multi-layered characters and have them interact with each other in intricate and fraught relationships. I hope we continue to see the same realistic character building in season two and look forward to watching the existing relationships play out.

She-Ra works because despite the underlying themes of oppression, emotional abuse, totalitarianism, and ecological ruin, at its heart, the show is about friendship. The show is just fun. Seeing Adora receive unconditional love for the first time in the form of her friendship with Bow (Marcus Scribner) and Glimmer (Karen Fukuhara) was a delight to watch. The interplay between the "Best Friend Quad," with rapid-fire jokes and lighthearted, sarcastic banter is what makes me love watching the show. From all appearances, season two will bring these beloved aspects of the show in spades. And to be honest, I can't wait. Luckily, no one will have to wait much longer.

However, if you want to get even more, fresher tidbits and hints on She-Ra's second season, the show's cast and crew will be hosting a livestream on Thursday April 25 at 7:15 p.m. PT. Get your burning questions in now!

BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!

Season 2 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power will be available Friday, April 26, on Netflix.

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