She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Noelle Stevenson on the Final Season’s Biggest Moment

And just like that, it is done. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power‘s fifth and final season is now available on Netflix. The final 13 episodes see the Best Friend Squad and all the rest take on their most powerful enemy ever in Horde Prime, and there is a lot that happens in the final three episodes alone that deserve discussion — including the biggest moment of the season, and possibly series. ComicBook.com had a chance to speak with showrunner and creator Noelle Stevenson all about the final season, and specifically about that scene.

Serious spoilers for Season 5, and really all, of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power follow. You’ve been warned.

ComicBook.com: Catradora. Did not see it coming. Did not expect that.

Noelle Stevenson: [laughs] Surprise.

You know, in hindsight? Yes. Sure. It’s all there. It builds up perfectly fine, but I have to ask, was Catradora always the endgame here?

For me when it came to what I wanted from this show, yes. It’s more complicated because, of course, this was not a pitch that I could come into the initial development of this show with, because it’s out there. It’s a risk. And this is a legacy character who’s been around for 35 years, a lot of people have a strong connection to her, and it makes people scared to give her a plot like this. But it was what I wanted for the show. So it was a little bit more trying to lay the groundwork and build this relationship up in a way that the characters are growing separately in a way that their arcs can come back together and complement each other. But also trying to make sure that, if we couldn’t be textual about this, if we couldn’t make it really clear that their relationship was romantic, or have that big moment between them where it’s really clear what’s going on, are people going to feel cheated? Are they going to feel really disappointed? Are they going to feel betrayed?

And not over-promising something that we weren’t sure if we’d be able to do. But it was always something that I was really passionate about. And if you go back and watch, especially the episodes that I wrote, that’s the through-line. The through-line is always about these two characters and the ways that their relationship breaks and comes back together. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s what kind of defines the arc of the entire show. And so getting to actually make this relationship canonical, having this romantic moment be the climax of the show. It’s, I think, what the show has been about this whole time.

And it’s about these two characters who were broken in so many ways and went off on their own paths. They had to go far apart before they could ever come back together. And then just really seeing them heal and grow, and grow together. And the ways that they end up being really good for each other and bringing out good things in each other. And it’s a story about redemption. It’s a story about forgiveness. It’s a story about growth and growing up. And as far as I’m concerned, it was always the ending that the show needed.

*****

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season 5 is now available on Netflix, which means that the whole thing is right there and available to watch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the latest and greatest animated She-Ra series right here.

What do you think of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season 5? Did you see the big reveal coming? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things animation!