First “Masters of The Universe” Teaser Reveals Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man
Over a cleverly retrofitted old MGM logo (the roaring lion remains, but beneath him is written “An Amazon Company”) on an old TV, a narrator welcomes to the first teaser for director Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe. We see an old cartridge being pushed into a console while the narrator intones, “Not long ago, when times were simpler…this was a healthy breakfast.” Cut to what appears to be a bowl of Fruit Loops, certainly one of this writer’s favorite ways to start the day in the 1980s, and certainly terrible for my health. We then see what passed for a healthy workout in the 80s (jogging, jazzercise), and then, at last, we’re shown what a hero used to be—He-Man, the be-muscled, bowl-cutted warrior who was the centerpiece of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, one of the most popular cartoons on TV, running for two seasons of 65 episodes each, spawning two films; a 1987 live-action Masters of the Universe, directed by Gary Goddard and starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, Frank Langella as Skeletor, and Meg Foster as Evil-Lyn, and He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, which then spawned the spinoff series She-Ra: Princess of Power.
Now, Knight, a veteran animation director, has helmed his own live-action take starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, aka Prince Adam of Eternia. While Prince Adam is exiled to Earth for years, his homeland is now being ruled by one of the great villains of the 1980s animated world, the skull-faced sorcerer Skeletor (Jared Leto).
So, He-Man plans to return to his world and save it, and he’ll need his pals to do that. Enter Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), Teela (Camila Mendes), the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin), Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), Ram-Man (Jon Xue Zhang), Roboto (Kristen Wiig) and Adam’s parents, King Randor (James Purefoy), and Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley). Opposing them are the fearsome forces of Skeletor, including Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie), Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson), Goat Man (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), and Tri-Klops (Kojo Attah).
You won’t learn any of this in the teaser below, but the full trailer arrives tomorrow, giving us a much deeper look at Knight’s adaptation.
Masters of the Universe arrives in theaters on June 5.
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Featured image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 29: Nicholas Galitzine attends the Prime Video’s “The Idea Of You” New York premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 29, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Manoli Figetakis/WireImage)
