The Masters of the Universe franchise has been going strong for over forty years now, consisting of multiple lines of action figures, several animated TV shows, a bunch of comic book series, and much more including a live-action film adaptation that was released in 1987 and starred Dolph Lundgren as the iconic character He-Man. Although that ’87 film has a strong fan following, it wasn’t received very well in general… but now, Mattel (the toy company behind the franchise) is ready to give the idea of a live-action Masters of the Universe film another try. Set up at Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios, the new Masters of the Universe is aiming for a theatrical release date of June 5, 2026 – and here’s everything we know about it:
DEVELOPMENT HELL
The new attempt to bring a live-action Masters of Universe movie into the world has been making its way through development hell since at least 2004, with a large stack of scripts being written over the years as the project passed through the hands of many different directors. Among the writers who have worked on the project over the years are Mike Finch and Alex Litvak (Predators), Evan Daugherty (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014), Richard Wenk (The Equalizer), Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean), Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), Christopher Yost (Thor: The Dark World), David S. Goyer (Man of Steel), Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man), and David Callaham (The Expendables). Wadlow and Goyer were also attached to direct the film when they were working on the script. Some of the other directors who have gotten involved with the project and then stepped away from it are John Woo (Hard Boiled), John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda), Jon M. Chu (Wicked), McG (Charlie’s Angels), and the Nee brothers (The Lost City). It has bounced from studio to studio: Warner Bros., Sony, Netflix, before ending up at Amazon MGM. It has been reported that Netflix pumped $30 million into developing the concept before deciding to let it go because the budget of their version would have been $200 million.
Once things fell apart at Netflix, Mattel and producer Todd Black chose to go to Amazon MGM because they were offering to give the film a “significant theatrical release,” which wasn’t going to happen in the Netflix days.
At times, Masters of the Universe has even gotten far enough into its development for actors to be cast as He-Man. Noah Centineo of The Recruit was set to play the character at one point, and started building up muscle for it. After Centineo dropped out, Kyle Allen (A Haunting in Venice) was cast as He-Man and started working out six hours a day in preparation. But neither of those actors will be playing He-Man when the film goes into production.
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT
Once the project ended up in the hands of Amazon MGM Studios, it was put on the fast track. Just three months after their deal was made, they had Bumblebee director Travis Knight in talks to take the helm, and he’s the director who is finally bringing live-action versions of He-Man and his allies and enemies back to the screen.
Knight is working from a screenplay that has been written by Chris Butler (ParaNorman), based on earlier drafts that were written by David Callaham and formerly attached directors Aaron and Adam Nee. The Nee brothers got involved when Masters of the Universe was still at Sony, then followed it over to Netflix, where they worked on the script with Callaham. So even though the film is coming from Amazon MGM, it still benefited from choices that were made when it was set up at other studios.
To cut costs, the majority of the 1987 Masters of the Universe film is set on 1980s Earth, with He-Man and various other characters being transported from their home world of Eternia to Earth with the use of a “Cosmic Key.” Oddly, despite technological advances and the fact that the new movie is going to have a much larger budget, the filmmakers are still planning to set a chunk of its running time on Earth. Here’s the synopsis: Ten-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.
Knight is bringing this story to life with the help of cinematographer Fabian Wagner, who has worked on the likes of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
CAST
Soon after Knight signed on to direct in February of 2024, the 2026 release date was announced. And just three months after the director was hired, he found the actor he wanted to play He-Man: Nicholas Galitzine, who already had a working relationship with Amazon, having been in the Prime Video films The Idea of You and Red, White and Royal Blue. Once he was cast, Galitzine had around seven or eight months to get into He-Man shape. He discussed the process in an interview with W magazine: “There’s been a lot of eating and weightlifting, a lot of stunts. I’m eating about 4,000 calories a day, but the amount of physical work I’m doing, you end up hungry at the end of the day, which is quite surprising. This is the fun part. I will eventually go into what’s called the cutting phase, where I’m going to be starved and so rude to everyone. I can only apologize for the person I’m going to become in a few months’ time.“
Galitzine is joined in the cast by Camila Mendes (Riverdale) as Teela, Jared Leto (Morbius) as the villainous Skeletor, Idris Elba (Luther) as Man-at-Arms (a.k.a. Duncan), GLOW‘s Alison Brie as Skeletor’s right hand woman Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin (Deadpool & Wolverine) as The Sorceress, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Captain America: Brave New World) as Malcolm (a.k.a. Fisto), Sam C. Wilson (Dodger) as Trap Jaw, Hafthor Bjornsson (Game of Thrones) as Goat Man, Kojo Attah (The Beekeeper) as Tri-Klops, Jon Xue Zhang (The Brothers Sun) as Ram-Man, and James Purefoy (A Knight’s Tale) and Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders) as He-Man’s parents, King Randor and Queen Marlena. All of those names will be familiar to fans of the Masters of the Universe franchise – and then we have Sasheer Zamata (Agatha All Along) and Christian Vunipola (Wildflower) as a pair of new characters, Suzie and Hussein.
A behind-the-scenes image shows Galitzine, sporting He-Man’s blonde hair, and Mendes, with red in her hair to play Teela, preparing for their roles alongside Hafthor Bjornsson… who, unfortunately, is not sporting his Goat Man horns.
Galitzine was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, where he gave this quote about the film: “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 Masters of the Universe, and the comics themselves. And we’re very much treating our script 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.“
While speaking to Variety, Brie was asked if she needs to put on muscle to play Evil-Lyn. She said, “I’ve been doing it for years. I’ve just been maintaining, since GLOW, a pretty steady layer of muscle, but I’ve been trying to get a little more buffed up.” Asked if she was into the He-Man cartoon as a kid, she answered, “I remember watching it as a kid. Less than remembering the show itself and details about the show, I more just remember the act of being in front of the TV, watching the show. And She-Ra, of course. It has been fun to go back and watch episodes of the original cartoon. It’s cheeky, it’s weird, it’s funny.“
Brie told The Hollywood Reporter, “I read the script and I think it’s really clever. It has a really great take on He-Man, and Nick Galitzine is really talented. Those are the reasons I said yes. Actors always say that villains have the most fun, and that’s probably true. I’ve played morally compromised people but not a truly deliciously sinister evil villain. I’ve been trying to manifest playing a villain in a superhero movie, and [this is] answering that call for me.” She discussed the original animated series in that interview as well: “I definitely remember it being on, and I went back and started watching it again. It’s much funnier than I remember. Evil-Lyn and Skeletor have a contentious relationship.“
FILMING
IMDb Pro reported that Masters of the Universe started filming in London at the start of January 2025, but in early February, cast member Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson said filming was “about to start.” Whether filming began in January or February, we know that Galitzine was spotted on set, in “Adam on Earth” mode, around February 14th:
First look at Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man on the set of ‘MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE’.
— Film Crave (@_filmcrave) February 14, 2025pic.twitter.com/fSS4pM5JO8
Ten days later, Amazon MGM Studios shared a tease of Galitzine’s He-Man mode:
That’s everything we know about the new Masters of the Universe right now, but we’ll keep updating this article as the film makes its way toward its 2026 theatrical release.
The post Everything We Know About Masters of the Universe (2026) appeared first on JoBlo.
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