Netflix casts He-Man, will release live-action movie

By Blair Marnell Updated January 28, 2022

After nearly 35 years, a new live-action Masters of the Universe movie is finally moving forward. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has acquired the rights to release a Masters of the Universe film from Sony Pictures, which previously held the rights from Mattel. And with that announcement came word that Kyle Allen has been cast as the new live-action He-Man, a role previously played by Dolph Lundgren in the Masters of the Universe film from 1987.

Allen replaces Noah Centineo, who was cast as He-Man in 2019 before stepping away from the project in April 2020. Allen’s most prominent credits are his leading role in The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, as well as a supporting part in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. He also had a recurring role on FX’s American Horror Story: Apocalypse, and he will play Romeo in the upcoming film Rosaline.

He-Man was created for Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toy line in 1981, and the franchise rose to prominence in 1983 with the animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Within the lore of the show, He-Man is the alter ego of Prince Adam of Eternia. Although Adam’s family is unaware of his heroics, he was chosen by the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor.

Kyle Allen will take on the role of He-Man in the new Masters of the Universe movie.

Netflix has been circling the live-action Masters of the Universe reboot since 2019. In 2021, Netflix debuted two He-Man related projects: Masters of the Universe: Revelation and a CGI reboot of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe; which has a second season coming to Netflix on March 3.

Aaron and Adam Nee are slated to direct Netflix’s live-action Masters of the Universe, and they are co-writing the script with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings scribe Dave Callaham. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, DeVon Franklin, Robbie Brenner, and Kevin McKeon are executive producing the film.

The new Masters of the Universe movie will begin production later this year. A release date has not been officially announced.

Topics

Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…

Entertainment

10 most popular Netflix movies of all time

A group of people gather in a room in Glass Onion.

In 2015, Netflix changed the film industry forever when it purchased the distribution rights to Beasts of No Nation, releasing it in theaters via Bleecker Street and on the streamer on October 16, 2015. Two months later, The Ridiculous 6 became the first film distributed solely through Netflix. Hundreds of films later, Netflix releases original movies globally every single week.

Netflix is now one of the most powerful and prolific studios in the world. Because of that, many established and successful filmmakers and actors have worked with Netflix, including Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), and Meryl Streep (Let Them All Talk). From prestige dramas to expensive action blockbusters, many films on Netflix have streamed for hundreds of millions of hours. What are the most popular films (English) on Netflix? Find out below!

Entertainment

12 new Marvel characters we want to see in the Spider-Man 4 movie

Spider-Man panicking.

After the spectacular success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, audiences are eager to see Tom Holland return as Spider-Man in a fourth solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though such a sequel is already in development, almost nothing is known about what the film is about or who will appear in it.

The possibilities are endless for Spidey's next adventure, so as the world anxiously waits for him to swing back onto the big screen, here is a list of new characters Spider-Man could meet in his fourth film in the MCU.
Hammerhead

Entertainment

With Stranger Things and Squid Game, Netflix proves it’s better at making great TV shows than movies

Eleven, Will, Mike, and Jonathan standing and staring in a still from Stranger Things Season 4.

Netflix received a whopping 105 nominations at this year's Emmys, driven by hits like Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Ozark. While it's a decline from last year's 129, Netflix still secured the second-most nominations out of any network or streamer, with only HBO beating it thanks to juggernauts like Succession and The White Lotus.

Still, not everything is great for the so-called King of the Streamers. Whether it's canceling shows left and right or losing subscribers every quarter, the original streamer can't seem to catch a break, and not even its lush and over-the-top original movies can help. Netflix premiered the tiresome The Gray Man less than a month ago, and the film -- which reportedly sports a $200 million production tag -- has already left the pop culture vocabulary; not even the news that a sequel and a prequel are coming was enough to stimulate interest.