Amazon MGM is putting together a new movie based on Masters of the Universe, about the oiled-up fantasy hero He-Man and his battle against the skull-faced Skeletor. The series began as a collection of action figures released in the early 1980s, continued with an animated series released soon after, and landed in theaters with a live-action movie in 1987, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. The new Masters of the Universe movie will star Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man. Meanwhile, Oscar winner Jared Leto will play Skeletor.
Between playing the Joker in movies like Suicide Squad and playing the title character in Morbius, Leto has made a habit in recent years of playing freaky villains and anti-heroes, so this more or less fits that pattern. Variety also revealed who will be playing some of Skeletor's henchmen: Kojo Attah is Tri-Klops, Sam C. Wilson is Trap Jaw, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is Goat Man. Wilson and Björnsson played a couple of heavies from the Game of Thrones universe: Björnsson was Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane in the original series and Wilson was the assassin known only as Blood in the spinoff series House of the Dragon. They should be able to trade Westeros for Eternia without much trouble.
The rest of the cast is pretty impressive. Community and GLOW veteran Alison Brie will play Skeletor's lieutenant Evil-Lyn, Riverdale's Camila Mendes is He-Man's ally Teela, and Idris Elba is Teela's father Man-at-Arms.
We don't yet have a firm indicator of how seriously we're supposed to take this reboot of a movie based on a TV show based on Gen Xers' memories of banging action figures together in their childhood living rooms. There's definitely been renewed interest in the franchise in recent years, with two new animated series — He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Masters of the Universe: Revelation — both premiering on Netflix in 2021.
When it rains He-Men, it pours He-Men. Looks out for the new Masters of the Universe movie in theaters on June 5, 2026.
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