Masters of the Universe Movie Casts Its Live-Action He-Man

Nicholas Galitzine will play the sword-wielding barbarian at the heart of Masters of the Universe.

By Russ Burlingame

Amazon MGM Studios announced today that they have cast Nicholas Galitzine in the lead role of He-Man in their planned 2025 Masters of the Universe movie. While this is just the latest in a long line of attempts to get Masters of the Universe made, it does seem to be one of the stronger contenders to actually, eventually exist, with a successful filmmaker (Bumblebee's Travis Knight) at the helm and a studio eager to score some genre hits. If it does go forward, Galitzine will be the second actor to play He-Man in live action, after Dolph Lundgren did so in a 1987 bomb-turned-cult-classic. The part was previously won by To All The Boys I've Loved Before heartthrob Noah Centineo, but he left, was replaced by Kyle Allen, then that movie fell apart and the rights lapsed.

Like that movie, much of Masters of the Universe will take place on Earth, with a young Prince Adam stranded here and separated from his source of power. No word on who will play the younger version of Galitzine, although it doesn't seem likely we'll get a kid-into-adult swap a la Shazam! this time around.

"We're thrilled to bring the beloved Masters of the Universe to life and couldn't be more excited to announce the immensely talented Nicholas Galitzine as our He-Man," said Julie Rapaport, head of film production and development at Amazon MGM Studios. "This reintroduction of the character and his universe will be an epic film that will delight audiences from here to Eternia."  

According to the studio's synopsis, in Masters of the Universe, 10-year-old Prince Adam who 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!

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The franchise has already spawned two successful animated series on Netflix — She-Ra and the Princess of Power, and Masters of the Universe: Revolution. Supergirl star Chris Wood provided the voice of He-Man in the latter. During the almost 20 years that Mattel has been trying to make a Masters movie happen, filmmakers like McG, Jeff Wadlow, and Jon M. Chu have cycled in and out.

Per Variety, who first reported Galitzine's casting, Masters of the Universe will be produced by Escape Artists' Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch, as well as Mattel Films' Robbie Brenner. It's one of a number of high profile movies in development at Mattel Films, who are riding high on the massive success of last year's Barbie. The planned Mattel film slate includes Daniel Kaluuya's Barney, the Jennifer Lopez and Anthony Ramos animated Bob the Builder, Lil Yachty's heist thriller Uno, and Vin Diesel's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

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