For Nicholas Galitzine, physically preparing for the role of He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe, was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
“There were moments where I would be fasted for 18 hours and doing a three-hour weight session while fasted and then going and doing stunts right after. It would test your resolve,” the Masters Of The Universe star says during Fandango’s Big Ticket interview. “You’re kind of forging this new person in the fire in a way. The person who started the process was nowhere near ready both physically and emotionally to embody this larger-than-life hero. So I loved the process of kind of suffering for the role.”
Galitzine laughs, “It kind of built character in a real way.”
Co-star Camila Mendes, who also went through vigorous training for the role of Teela, a skilled warrior and ally of He-Man, recalls starting her preparations in September 2024, months before filming began. “Nick and I really bonded during our [training] experience. … We were learning so much about our bodies and nutrition and how to do it all the healthy way, which was important to both of us.”
For Masters Of The Universe fans, a modern retelling of the He-Man story has been a long time coming. The franchise first began with the popular animated series He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe that ran for two seasons, which then expanded into numerous TV spinoffs and a 1987 live-action film. Forty years later, we finally return to the cinematic universe of Eternia, home of Prince Adam (Galitzine) that has been suffering under the fiendish rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto). The new film, which premieres June 5, sees Adam join forces with Teela (Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba) to save his world and, with the help of the Sword of Power, embrace his destiny as He-Man.
As ’90s kids, Galitzine and Mendes say they first knew Masters Of The Universe as the show that spawned a slew of internet memes. For director Travis Knight, an OG fan of the animated series, this was a longtime dream to bring the story to the big screen. Knight says he wanted to make sure his take also captured the spirit of the original and “what it was like to watch Masters for the first time when it was born in the ’80s.”
“For me, [watching the original Masters] was like a fever dream. It was so weird. It was barbarians, robots with laser guns, spaceships, guys with axes and stuff. It was a crazy combination of flavors,” Knight says. “But there was always one thing that was critical about it, which was it had a lighthearted playful vibe to it. It was retina burning, the designs were insane, it had lots of action but it was a lot of fun.”
“That was something we didn’t want to lose,” he adds.
Masters Of The Universe opens in theaters on June 5, 2026. Get your tickets here.
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