Summary
The upcomingMasters Of The Universereboot project coming from Mattel and Amazon MGM Studios is really taking shape in record time (ignoring all the delays), and now the project has cast two royally important characters from the beloved franchise.
TheMasters Of The Universemight be one of the most successful franchises of its era, but it’s also still massively relevant today, and that’s been no small feat. The multimedia franchise has pretty much done it all, from toys and cartoons to comic books and crossovers. However, the first foray into live-action was less than stellar, and the franchise has been stuck without a theatrical redo ever since. After years of development hell hijinks that can be traced as far back as 2007 and saw the project suffer a major setback as recently as mid-2023, the live-action reboot is finally on the way. This newMasters Of The Universefilm is set to change the tone of previous light-hearted adaptations, and this has been reflected in the casting process as well.
Some very recent news saw aDeadpoolstar join the already-recruitedMasters Of The Universecast, and now the film has added two more stars to the mix for some very prestigious roles. As announced viaThe Hollywood Reporter, stars James Purefoy and Charlotte Riley have joined the cast ofMasters of the Universeas Nicholas Galitzine’s Prince Adam’s royal parents, King Randor and Queen Marlena, respectively. Both new additions are highly talented and have a plethora of great projects to their names, with Riley having featured in the highly popularPeaky Blindersseries andPurefoy being a mainstay onRome.They join an already stacked cast that includes Camila Mendes as Teela, Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Malcolm/Fisto, Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops, Idris Elba as Duncan/Man-at-Arms, Sam C. Wilson as Trap Jaw, Hafthor Bjornsson as Goat Man, and Jared Leto as Skeletor.
The two actors certainly look like they’ll have an easy time taking on royalty, and that’s even more important than fans might realize. While Adam’s royal parents have often been largely uninformed of his identity as He-Man in the past, the new adaptation seems set to undo this and take it even further by giving these characters far more substantial roles. ThisMasters of the Universereboot may feature a big change to He-Man’s origin, and if things go as previously speculated, Purefoy and Riley will have to take their new characters in a direction that no previous adaptation has explored before. Additionally, the massive time-lapse between live-action adaptations and the relative failure of the first one means that, for better or worse, the stars attached to the upcomingMasters of the Universewill be the faces of these iconic characters for years to come. This ups the ante on both the pressure and the prestige of the parts that the two actors and their already chosen castmates are faced with now.
It was clear from the onset that this newMasters Of The Universechose the right tone for a proper modern reboot, and it has done a stellar job so far of assembling the right cast for the job as well. While it will be interesting to see what the plot gives these talented ladies and gents to work with over the course of the film’s production, there’s no doubt that the project has already given itself a fairly big leg up on any potential issues down the line by nailing the pre-production.
TheMasters Of The Universereboot film is set for theatrical release on July 30, 2025.
