By George & Josh Bate
Amazon MGM Studios will soon introduce He-Man to a brand new generation of moviegoers and hope to replicate the magic of the iconic Mattel action figures and feature film of the 1980s.
From director Travis Knight (Bumblebee, Kubo and the Two Strings), Masters of the Universe stars Nicholas Galitzine as Adam Glenn, the former Prince of Eternia who was raised on Earth after he was forced to flee his home as a child. In adulthood, Adam comes across the Sword of Power and is led back to Eternia, where he discovers that his former home has fallen under the rule of the fiendish Skeletor (Jared Leto). With the help of Teela (Camila Mendes) and Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), Adam must become He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe, to overthrow Skeletor and restore peace to Eternia.
The HoloFiles recently had the opportunity to participate in a press conference with Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight, stars Nicholas Galitzine (Adam Glenn / He-Man), Camila Mendes (Teela), Idris Elba (Duncan / Man-At-Arms), Alison Brie (Evil-Lyn), Morena Baccarin (The Sorceress) president of Mattel Studios Robbie Brenner, and producers Jason Blumenthal and Todd Black about their new film, their enduring love for the world of He-Man, working with Queen guitarist Brian May on the score, and more.
Taking on the role of the most powerful man in the universe is English actor Nicholas Galitzine. Known for his roles in the romantic dramas Purple Hearts and The Idea of You and the Prime Video series Red, White & Royal Blue, Galitzine undertakes his greatest challenge as actor yet, stepping into a massive, beloved franchise.
Having recently attended the world premiere of Masters of the Universe at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre, Galitzine recounted how surreal it was to headline a film making its world premiere at a location he visited frequently as an aspiring actor. “For a lot of English actors, British actors, there’s an added step of your process of your career,” Galitzine remarked. “Going out to LA to get agents. Do pilot season. And we have this thing called ESA visa, which is a 90-day visa and I used to book the full length of this visa and have no idea where I was going to sleep. So I stayed on a few couches in North Hollywood and I remember I would always walk past the Chinese Theatre and never in my wildest dreams did I hope that I could be there one day [to premiere a movie.] So it was extremely surreal being there.”
Robbie Brenner, head of the Mattel Studios, is no stranger to translating revered toys to compelling stories on the big screen, having produced the box office smash Barbie in 2023. Brenner discussed how she and the creative team approached bringing the whimsy and joy of playing action figures to a feature film with thoughtfulness and care. “I think with toys in general, it’s something that you play with, you bring it into your room, you imagine for hours,” Brenner described. “You have the wonder, the whimsy, the play, the everything, and everybody has nostalgia for toys and characters. And then seeing it come to life, to be able to be involved with a move like Masters of the Universe and to make sure that it has the integrity it needs.”
Accomplishing this feat was no easy task. Producers Jason Blumenthal and Todd Black have been trying to make a new live-action He-Man movie for 18 years, with Wicked director Jon M. Chu, The Lost City directors Aaron and Adam Nee, and Charlie’s Angels director McG all reportedly in talks to helm the film at different points in time.
“We joke, but it took 18 years to get this movie made,” producer Jason Blumental said. “And I say that only because there was a time when Todd [Black] and I 18 years ago went from being fans to being producers of this really important franchise. And that day changed things for us, because, as fans we love this thing, but now, as producers, we had to understand that we were becoming stewards and guardians of this really special piece of IP that fans had a really strong connection to.”
In exploring how the movie ultimately came to fruition the way it did, Blumenthal asserted that “this was the movie that needed to happen.” He elaborated, “Because there was no movie before Travis [Knight]. There were ideas about movies, there were thoughts about what it would be like. Travis put this thing together and then together we all landed this plane.”
Producer Todd Black reaffirmed Blumenthal’s point, stating, ““Travis knew how to make it work on so many levels. Adventure. Comedy. Emotion. Spectacle….You knew how to make it theatrical. You had the sense that this is the big screen all the way….We want that and we need that.”
Masters of the Universe wouldn’t mark the first time director Travis Knight stepped in to helm a big franchise project. In 2018, Knight directed Bumblebee, the Transformers prequel that is regarded by many as the best installment in the franchise. Before that, he received an Academy Award nomination for directing and producing the acclaimed animated film Kubo and the Two Strings.
But the new Amazon MGM Studios film was not the first He-Man movie Knight has made. “I made my own He-Man home movie [as a kid],” Knight recalled. “I commandeered my dad’s video games. I was He-Man, of course. I didn’t really look the part. I had the haircut, but I didn’t really look the part.”
Knight went on to discuss how making Masters of the Universe as an adult re-emphasizing to him how He-Man is “a huge part of [his] life” dating back to childhood. “It was huge to actually be able to tell the story of these characters that I’ve loved since I was a kid,” Knight stated. “It’s a very moving experience for me and probably the most moving thing was the day that Nick did the famous incantation where he transforms into He-Man for the first time. I was welling up. I was getting really emotional, because it was such an incredible thing to see this character in life, brought to life on the big screen.”
Galitzine and Knight held numerous conversations about the importance of grounding such an awesome, iconic character in human emotion. “Obviously, when he is transformed in all that amazing action, he looks very fun, but the thing that Travis and I really connected on was: how do we find the human of this larger than life character?” Galitzine reflected. “Doing that incantation on that day, I remember being very emotional as well. What does it mean to have the power? He has really been gaslit for much of his life. No one believes he is who he is, despite having this unbreakable sense of hope, which is bashed almost every day of his life.”
Galitzine later joked that he “was thinking of every casting director who ever rejected [him]” in portraying a character doubted by so many before fulfilling his destiny.
Galitzine’s He-Man is joined by Camila Mendes, whose character Teela joins forces with He-Man to save Eternia. Mendes, who is best known for her role as Veronica Lodge in Riverdale, discussed what drew her to playing Teela. “I think, for me, what really made Teela’s storyline so interesting was her relationship with her father, and I feel like that really informs who she becomes when she’s older,” Mendes detailed. “She has this very tough exterior, but deep down she has a lot of deep feelings, which is why I think that her and Adam really connect.”
Mendes and Galitzine joked about a scene in the film in which Teela friendzones Adam. Galitzine jokingly lamented, “I’ve got all these big muscles and hope for nothing.”
Teela’s father and King Randor’s trusted general Duncan is played by Idris Elba, an actor who is no stranger to big franchise fare having featured in Marvel, DC, and Star Trek movies. Elba voiced how he had fun playing a character that embodied “the old-school machismo that lives in cowboy characters,” while noting that Duncan’s relationship with his daughter “gave a character that ordinally kicks ass a lot of depth.”
Morena Baccarin, another actor whose is well-versed in IP, plays the Sorceress, Teela’s biological mother and the guardian of Castle Grayskull. Like Knight, Baccarin’s love for Masters of the Universe dates back to her early years. “Much like Travis, I spent a lot of time in my childhood playing He-Man and She-Ra with my brother,” Boccarin described. “So I had internalized the history. I knew everything about them. So it wasn’t hard to drop into this world.”
Alison Brie, meanwhile, play the aptly named Evil-Lyn, a sorceress who join forces with Skeletor to rule Eternia. “I think what I was really excited about this character is the relationship between Evil-Lyn and Skeletor and how contentious it is and how funny it is,” Brie explained. “The original Evil-Lyn is a really funny character, because she is sometimes his most loyal ally and also his least loyal foe. She is ready to turn on Skeletor at the drop of a hat.”
Brie revealed during the press conference that Jared Leto not only voiced Sekeltor, but was on set in “an incredible suit.” “He still looked terrifying to all of us,” she said of the He-Man antagonist.
Backing all the spectacle and emotion of Masters of the Universe’s return to the big screen is an original score from Academy Award nominee Daniel Pemberton. The English composer’s recent projects include the Spider-Verse movies, Materialists, and Eddington, and in 2026 already he has masterminded the scores for Project Hail Mary and The Drama. Knight described Pemberton’s score as “a character in the movie,” while Black said that it is “off the charts.”
Pemberton wasn’t the only renowned musician who contributed to the music for Masters of the Universe. Queen guitarist Brian May stepped in to record guitar solos that give the film an electric, throwback energy and tone. This isn’t May’s foray into fantasy adventure films, however. In 1980, Brian May and Queen composed and performed the soundtrack for Flash Gordon, starring Sam J. Jones and Max von Sydow. Knight revealed how Queen’s music for Flash Gordon inspired the musical approach to his film. “There was something that was just so fantastic and theatrical and operatic about [Queen’s Flash Gordon soundtrack],” Knight stated. “But, like all Queen stuff…it was emotionally complex and had a big heart and it also sounded awesome. So Daniel and I talked about that. I couldn’t have imagined that a year later we’d be sitting in Brian May’s home studio watching him record guitar solos for our score. It was unbelievable.”
Knight spoke fondly of working with May, who demonstrated his long-standing connection to the world of He-Man during their recording sessions. “You know what the trippy thing was?” said Knight. “So, we were with Brian. I thought we’d maybe get an hour or two hours with him. He was with us all day long. It was near midnight. And then he disappears, and I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s tired.’ But then he comes back about ten minutes later and he’s got two giant boxes of He-Man toys. It was his son’s He-Man toys. He still had them from his attic. He brought them down and he knew all the characters.”
From top to bottom, Masters of the Universe appears to be the product of filmmakers and creatives with deep reverence for the source material. Early reactions out of the film’s world premiere have already described it “as one of the biggest surprises of 2026,” “packed with 80s vibes,” and “truly epic.” Indeed, all signs point to Masters of the Universe having the power.