Nicholas Galitzine talks about the excitement of having a project with such nostalgia as well as making newer lore for the franchise.
By the power of Greyskull, the new live-action Masters of the Universe is aiming to please existing fans as well as build a newer audience with the upcoming live-action adaptation. It was recently confirmed that Jared Leto will be donning the hood as Skeletor in the new iteration. Other villain roles that have been cast include Sam C. Wilson (House of the Dragon) as Trap Jaw, Hafthor Bjornsson (Game of Thrones) as Goat Man, and Kojo Attah (In the Grey) as Tri-Klops. Masters of the Universe will star Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as Prince Adam/He-Man, Camila Mendes (Do Revenge) as Captain Teela, Alison Brie (Community) as Evil-Lyn, and Idris Elba (Sonic the Hedgehog 3) as Man-at-Arms/Duncan. Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) will direct from a script by Chris Butler, with initial drafts penned by David Callaham, and Aaron & Adam Nee.
According to MovieWeb, Galitzine was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, where he talked about the tone that the new film will be going for. He explained,
Look, what I will say is our version is quite different from the original animation, which we all agree was camp within its own right and worked so well for the time. But there’s been a couple of iterations, obviously since there was the Revelation version of Master of the Universe, and the comics themselves. And we’re very much treating our script as as Bible, you know. But it’s kind of amazing to hear what this show meant to a lot of people. It was really formative for a lot of people, so it’s exciting to do something that will have a nostalgia element as well as hopefully attract a bunch of new fans.”
Additionally, MovieWeb reports on one rumored plot that insider Daniel Richtman has revealed. Could the new Masters of the Universe also be taking a small cue from the 1987 Dolph Lundgren movie? The rumored plot reads, “10-year-old Prince Adam crashed to Earth in a spaceship and was separated from his magical Power Sword—the only link to his home on Eternia. After tracking it down almost two decades later, Prince Adam is whisked back across space to defend his home planet against the evil forces of Skeletor. But to defeat such a powerful villain, Prince Adam will first need to uncover the mysteries of his past and become He-Man: the most powerful man in the Universe!”
The project was previously set up at Netflix, but the streaming service scrapped the project last summer. Aaron and Adam Nee were tapped to write and direct the project before it fell apart, reportedly due to budget issues. Netflix had already spent close to $30 million on development costs, with the budget ballooning to over $200 million. There was an attempt to bring the budget down, with the idea of shooting the movie back-to-back with a sequel in order to amortize the cost, but an agreement couldn’t be reached. The project later found a new home at Amazon MGM Studios. Masters of the Universe will be released in theaters on June 5, 2026.
