• Amazon MGM Studios has dropped the final trailer for Masters of the Universe, opening with vintage footage from the original ’80s cartoon
• Nicholas Galitzine stars as Prince Adam/He-Man, with Jared Leto as Skeletor and Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms
• Director Travis Knight built the story around a bold twist: Skeletor actually wins before the movie begins
• First reactions from the world premiere have been overwhelmingly positive, calling it one of 2026’s biggest surprises
• Masters of the Universe hits theaters June 5, 2026

He-Man is back — and if the final trailer for Masters of the Universe is any indication, the wait has been worth every single year. Amazon MGM Studios released the last look at the long-awaited live-action reboot this week, and it goes straight for the gut: opening with real footage from the original 1980s Filmation cartoon before crashing into a world where Skeletor has already won.

That’s the big swing director Travis Knight (Bumblebee, Kubo and the Two Strings) is taking with this one. Rather than retelling the familiar cartoon formula — villain schemes, villain gets beat, villain promises to return next week — Knight flipped the whole premise on its head. “We wondered, ‘What would happen if he actually won?'” Knight told SFX Magazine. “That’s essentially how we start our movie. Skeletor’s plan finally works.”

It’s a genuinely smart move for a franchise that spent decades stuck in development hell. Anyone who grew up with the cartoon knows the lather-rinse-repeat structure Knight described — and starting the film in the aftermath of Skeletor’s victory gives the story actual stakes that the episodic series never could.

What the Final Trailer Shows

The trailer opens on those vintage animated clips — a deliberate, misty-eyed acknowledgment of where this all came from — before cutting to Nicholas Galitzine’s Prince Adam grasping the Sword of Power and delivering the line every fan has been waiting to hear: “I have the power!” From there, it’s Eternia in ruins, Skeletor looming large, and a reunion of characters that longtime fans will recognize immediately: Mekaneck, Ram Man, Fisto, Cringer the talking tiger transforming into Battle Cat.

Jared Leto’s Skeletor gets a proper villain moment, declaring: “I might be a devil, but I mean to be a god.” The trailer makes clear the reunions between Adam and his old allies won’t be leisurely — as someone in the footage puts it, “the time for talk is over.”

What’s notable about this final trailer is what it doesn’t do. Despite the film receiving glowing first reactions from its world premiere, this cut doesn’t lean on those quotes at all. Instead, it trusts the nostalgia and the footage to do the work — and that confidence says something.

And yes, since it apparently needs to be said: Nicholas Galitzine looks almost distractingly good in that He-Man costume. The fit is more skin than cloth. These are, objectively, good problems for a movie to have.

The Cast That Makes It Work

The ensemble here is genuinely stacked. Camila Mendes plays Teela, Idris Elba is Duncan/Man-at-Arms, and Alison Brie takes on Evil-Lyn — Skeletor’s right-hand woman. Morena Baccarin plays the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. Kristen Wiig voices Roboto. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the man who played The Mountain on Game of Thrones, shows up as Goat Man. James Purefoy and Charlotte Riley play King Randor and Queen Marlena.

For the supporting roster, fans will clock Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Fisto, Jon Xue Zhang as Ram Man, James Wilkinson as Mekaneck, Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops, and Sam C. Wilson as Trap Jaw. Sasheer Zamata and Christian Vunipola play Suzie and Hussein — new characters who were part of Adam’s life during his years stranded on Earth.

There have also been persistent rumblings that Dolph Lundgren — who played He-Man in the 1987 live-action film — might appear in a cameo. Nothing’s been confirmed, but it would be a fitting nod for fans old enough to remember that one.

Knight admitted to SFX that reining himself in was part of the process. “At some point, I felt like I was being a ridiculously irresponsible fanboy as opposed to a filmmaker, so I needed to pull back,” he said. “This universe is so rich and dense. It’s got more than 40 years of history and mythology, so we’ve really just scratched the surface.”

Why This Moment Actually Feels Different

It’s easy to be skeptical about franchise reboots — especially one that’s been in development for as long as this one. But something about Masters of the Universe has felt different from the first trailer. The look is right. The tone is right. It’s threading the needle between the campy spirit of the original cartoon and the dramatic weight a big-budget theatrical release needs.

The screenplay comes from Chris Butler, working from earlier drafts by Dave Callaham and formerly attached directors Aaron and Adam Nee, with story credits for Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. The film is a co-production between Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios, with Sony Pictures International handling worldwide theatrical distribution outside the U.S.

First reactions out of the world premiere have been enthusiastic enough that Amazon clearly felt comfortable letting this final trailer speak for itself — no pull quotes needed. For fans who grew up watching Adam Glenn raise that sword on a Saturday morning, that’s a very good sign.

Masters of the Universe opens in theaters on June 5, 2026.

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• Nicholas Galitzine consumed up to 5,000 calories a day and lifted weights for three hours daily to bulk up for He-Man
• The intense regimen continued throughout the five-month shoot, with the actor squeezing in workouts between scenes
• His first post-wrap meal was a sushi and pizza combo — “Give it all to me,” he said
• Director Travis Knight praised Galitzine’s commitment, saying no one had ever seen him as an action hero before
• Galitzine also confirmed he had “a great time” filming the Red, White & Royal Blue sequel

Nicholas Galitzine didn’t just play the most powerful man in the universe — he had to build the body to match. The 31-year-old Masters of the Universe star is opening up about the extreme physical transformation required to bring He-Man to life, and it involved eating up to 5,000 calories a day, three hours of daily weightlifting, and not a single day off for the better part of a year.

“We started out really trying to pack on as much size as possible,” Galitzine told E! News at the film’s May 18 premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. “You know, having up to 5,000 calories sometimes, weightlifting for three hours a day — and then we streamlined it.”

“It was an every day a week thing,” he added. “It was a pretty short amount of time. You kind of would love to live in this character for a year beforehand, but the training very much changed as the movie went on.”

And when the cameras weren’t rolling, the work didn’t stop either. “You’re shooting a scene, they say, ‘You have 10 minutes until the next setup,’ you run outside, you hop on the assault bike, run back in, shoot a scene again,” Galitzine explained. “And that kind of goes on for about five months.”

The Moment Filming Wrapped — and the Meal That Followed

He described the regimen as “something I had to really work through on a day-to-day basis,” but was quick to add that he genuinely enjoyed the challenge. Still, the second it was over? He went straight for comfort food.

His first meal after wrapping was a combination of sushi and pizza. “I just was like, ‘Give it. Give it all to me,'” he told PEOPLE. “Food is everything to me. It truly is.”

Then came the whiplash. Just three weeks after finishing Masters of the Universe, Galitzine went straight into The Mosquito Bowl, a World War II film — and his new director had one very specific note. “He said, ‘I’ve got terrifying nightmares that you’re gonna show up on set on day one looking like He-Man. Can you just do nothing for the next three weeks?'” Galitzine recalled.

“So it was kind of music to my ears. I’d lay on a couch, I ate potato chips and I said, ‘This is the kind of prep I love.'”

At the Variety premiere event, he described the deload in even more colorful terms. “I was like, ‘Macaroni cheese,’ but you don’t even want to know,” he said, laughing. “It was sickening.” And as quickly as he’d built up the He-Man physique, it started to fade. “It takes so long to put on — it’s so quick to come off.”

Why Director Travis Knight Always Believed in Galitzine

Director Travis Knight says he knew Galitzine was right for the role long before the physical transformation happened. “It’s a very daunting ask to ask any actor and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the most powerful man in the universe.’ That means boulder shoulders. That means giant biceps. That means rippling pectorals and six-pack abs. Who wants to embrace that?” Knight said at the premiere, laughing. “But my man Nick, he completely embraced what that means.”

“Nick is an extraordinary actor,” Knight continued. “But no one’s ever really seen him as an action hero. I knew Nick had all the qualities that you needed to bring a character like [He-Man] to life. He has vulnerability, he has charisma, he has charm, he’s very funny — and then he had to transform his body.”

Camila Mendes, who plays Teela in the film, was equally overwhelmed by the moment. Standing on the purple carpet next to a giant poster of herself, she said simply: “It’s pretty effing cool. I feel like I’m pinching myself.” She reflected on what it meant to premiere a major studio film at the iconic Chinese Theatre. “I never thought I’d be premiering a massive film at the Chinese Theatre. It’s just so surreal. You never know if these things are going to happen again, so I’m just enjoying it. I’m being present.”

As for whether the world will see more of Galitzine in the role, Knight was measured but left the door wide open. “I think we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves,” he said, “because we approach all these things as if we have one chance of telling a story and we put everything we had into it.” Then he smiled: “If the world wants more, we’ve got more stories to tell.”

Meanwhile, There’s a Royal Wedding on the Way

Between the He-Man bulk and the WWII deload, Galitzine also found time to film Red, White & Royal Wedding, the long-awaited sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue. He returns as Prince Henry opposite Taylor Zakhar Perez, with Uma Thurman back as the U.S. president and Lena Headey joining the cast.

“It’s so rare that you get to return to something, so it felt like a really wholesome experience,” Galitzine said at the premiere. “You’re getting to work with Taylor and Uma again, and Lena Headey joining us. I had a great time filming it.”

Masters of the Universe hits theaters this summer. After everything Galitzine put his body through to get there, it better be worth every calorie.

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• Masters of the Universe held its world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on May 18
• Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, and Jared Leto lead the all-star cast in the Amazon MGM film
• Director Travis Knight revealed the film kicks off with Skeletor actually winning — a twist on the classic cartoon formula
• Knight has teased She-Ra will play “a huge part” if a sequel happens, with Prime Video already developing a live-action She-Ra series
• Fan-favorite character Orko has been conspicuously absent from all marketing, fueling theories about a post-credits reveal

By the Power of Grayskull — He-Man has officially arrived. The world premiere of Masters of the Universe went down Monday night at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and while full reviews are still under embargo ahead of the film’s June 5 release, Amazon MGM gave premiere attendees the green light to post their immediate reactions on social media. The early word? The crowd was feeling it.

Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, and Idris Elba led the red carpet, with Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin, Sasheer Zamata, director Travis Knight, and — in a genuinely fun nod to franchise history — Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the original 1987 film, all turning out for the occasion. Idris brought his wife Sabrina Elba along for the night. Camila arrived in a Cong Tri dress. And yes, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the man who plays Goat Man, was also there, because of course he was.

The film follows Prince Adam (Galitzine), who as a child crash-landed on Earth and grew up as the thoroughly ordinary Adam Glenn — separated from his Sword of Power and completely cut off from his true identity. Fifteen years later, the sword finds its way back to him, pulling him toward a destroyed Eternia now ruled by the villainous Skeletor (Jared Leto). To reclaim his world, Adam must reunite with Teela (Mendes) and Man-At-Arms (Elba) and finally step into his destiny as He-Man.

How the ’80s Cartoon Shaped the Story

Knight has been refreshingly candid about how deep his love for the source material runs — almost dangerously so, by his own admission. “At some point, I felt like I was being a ridiculously irresponsible fanboy as opposed to a filmmaker, so I needed to pull back,” he told SFX magazine. “This universe is so rich and dense. It’s got more than 40 years of history and mythology, so we’ve really just scratched the surface.”

He still managed to squeeze in some deep cuts. Ram Man, Fisto, and Mekaneck all make the roster — alongside Karg, Moss Man, and Goat Man — and the film’s core premise is itself a clever riff on the original Filmation animated series. “If you watched the Filmation cartoons from the ’80s, you know that Skeletor had some grand designs for power in every episode,” Knight explained. “He’s going to do some kind of scheme, he’s going to get his ass kicked and then he’s going to promise to return next week. Lather, rinse, repeat. We wondered, ‘What would happen if he actually won?’ That’s essentially how we start our movie. Skeletor’s plan finally works.”

It’s a genuinely clever entry point for a franchise reboot — honoring the nostalgia while immediately flipping the script.

She-Ra, Deleted Scenes, and What Comes Next

For fans already thinking beyond June 5, Knight has been dropping breadcrumbs. Asked about She-Ra — one of the franchise’s most beloved characters, who has been notably absent from all marketing — the director didn’t shut the door. “For me, She-Ra has always been a big part of the Masters world and a big part of Adam’s story,” he said. “Whether or not she plays any part in this movie, I cannot say. But if we get to tell more stories, She-Ra will play a huge part.”

He also confirmed that a significant amount of material didn’t make the final cut. “There are giant scenes in the movie that aren’t there any longer,” Knight said, expressing hope that the deleted footage will “get to see the light of day at some point.” Given the scale of what he was describing — fan-favorite characters, extended sequences — that’s the kind of thing that makes a collector’s edition Blu-ray very interesting.

It’s worth noting that Prime Video already has a live-action She-Ra series in development, with Heidi Schreck writing and executive producing and Nicole Kassell set to direct the pilot. The groundwork for a larger universe is clearly being laid.

The Orko Question

There’s one beloved character who has been completely missing from every trailer, every poster, and every piece of marketing — and fans have noticed. Orko, the lovable floating wizard who was a staple of the original animated series, hasn’t shown up anywhere. Until now, sort of.

The official film tie-in comic from Dark Horse, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Wings of Fate, appears to include Orko’s silhouette tucked behind the logo — a detail sharp-eyed fans spotted almost immediately. Whether that means he has a role in the film that’s been carefully kept out of all promotional footage, or whether he’s being saved for a post-credits scene or a sequel, nobody outside the production is saying.

Given that the movie’s roster is already stacked — Mekaneck, Moss Man, Karg, Goat Man, Ram Man, and Fisto are all in there alongside the main cast — holding Orko back to give him a proper spotlight in a follow-up actually makes a certain kind of sense. He’s too good a character to be just another face in the crowd.

The full cast also includes Kristen Wiig as the voice of Roboto, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress, Charlotte Riley as Queen Marlena Glenn, James Purefoy as King Randor, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Malcolm/Fisto — a lineup that, on paper, looks like someone gave a superfan an unlimited casting budget and told them to go wild.

Masters of the Universe opens in theaters on June 5. The last time a live-action He-Man film hit the big screen, it was 1987, Dolph Lundgren was in the harness, and it bombed spectacularly. Nearly four decades later, the franchise is getting its real shot — and Monday night’s crowd seemed to think it’s ready.

The post Masters of the Universe Premiere: First Reactions Are In appeared first on Cream.

• Director Travis Knight confirms She-Ra is central to his vision for the Masters of the Universe universe
• Knight hints scenes involving the character may have been cut from the upcoming film
• A live-action She-Ra series is already in development at Prime Video with Heidi Schreck writing and Nicole Kassell directing the pilot
• Masters of the Universe hits theaters in June, starring Nicholas Galitzine, Jared Leto, Idris Elba, and Camila Mendes

Travis Knight isn’t ready to say She-Ra is in Masters of the Universe — but he’s also not ready to say she isn’t. And that distinction is doing a lot of heavy lifting right now.

Speaking to SFX Magazine ahead of the film’s June release, the director opened up about one of the biggest questions fans of the franchise have been asking since the live-action reboot was announced: where is Adora? His answer was carefully worded, clearly deliberate, and just cryptic enough to send the fandom into a spiral.

“I can say very little about She-Ra,” Knight told the magazine. “For me, She-Ra has always been a big part of the Masters world and a big part of Adam’s story. In the fullness of time, if we’re lucky to tell more stories in this universe, She-Ra will play a huge part.”

That alone would have been enough. But then he kept going.

“Whether or not she plays any part in this movie, I cannot say — but we definitely had many, many conversations about the character,” Knight added. “There are giant scenes in the movie that aren’t there any longer. I am very proud of the movie, but there are definitely things that I love that we had to cut. Hopefully, they will get to see the light of day at some point.”

Giant scenes. That aren’t there any longer. Fans are going to be parsing that sentence for months.

Who Is She-Ra — and Why Does It Get Complicated?

For anyone who grew up with the original Filmation cartoons, She-Ra needs no introduction. Princess Adora is Prince Adam’s twin sister, kidnapped as an infant by the evil Hordak and taken to his planet, Etheria — a setup that clearly borrowed some energy from a certain galaxy far, far away. After breaking free from Hordak’s control, Adora led the Great Rebellion against his Evil Horde, wielding her own magic sword and transforming into She-Ra: Princess of Power. She got her own animated series, her own toy line, and her own devoted fanbase that has never really gone away.

The rights situation, though, has always been thorny. When Filmation Studios dissolved, the cartoon and film rights to She-Ra split off from those of MOTU — which is exactly why the beloved Netflix She-Ra and the Princesses of Power reboot, which ran five seasons before ending in 2020, couldn’t acknowledge her famous twin brother at all. Mattel still owns both toy properties, but the screen rights have lived separate lives.

Knight’s comments suggest that barrier isn’t insurmountable — especially now that both properties are operating under the same corporate umbrella. The MOTU film is an Amazon production, and there’s already a live-action She-Ra series in development at Prime Video. Heidi Schreck — best known for writing and starring in the acclaimed play What the Constitution Means to Me, with additional credits on Billions, Nurse Jackie, and Dispatches from Elsewhere — is on board as writer and executive producer. Nicole Kassell, who has directed episodes of Watchmen, Westworld, and The Leftovers, is set to helm the pilot.

That’s a serious creative team for a property that, until recently, seemed perpetually stuck in rights-issue purgatory.

Knight Is Already Thinking About a Bigger Universe

When the conversation turned to sequels more broadly, Knight made clear he’s not approaching this as a one-and-done situation — and neither is Amazon.

“Here’s the reality of the situation,” he said. “A company like Amazon isn’t going to take on a property like this if they don’t think there’s potential to tell more stories within this world — and I agree with that point of view. Masters is a very dense universe. There’s so much mythology, there are so many incredible, interesting characters and there are so many different types of stories you can tell within this space.”

The film itself centers on Prince Adam — played by Nicholas Galitzine — who has spent years on Earth searching for the Power Sword and a way back to Eternia, only to return and find his home under the iron grip of Skeletor. Jared Leto plays the skull-faced villain, with Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Camila Mendes as Teela, Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn. James Purefoy and Charlotte Riley play Adam’s parents, King Randor and Queen Marlena. Kristen Wiig recently joined as the voice of Roboto, with Sam C. Wilson as Trap Jaw and Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops rounding out the cast.

Knight previously directed Kubo and the Two Strings and Bumblebee, so he knows how to build mythology that leaves room to grow. Whether Masters of the Universe gets that room depends entirely on how it performs when it opens this June.

But those giant cut scenes aren’t going anywhere. And something tells us Adora’s story is just getting started.

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