By the power of Grayskull, Jared Leto will become a jacked-up, cranially exposed supervillain!
The Oscar-winning star of “House of Gucci” and “Dallas Buyers Club” is joining Amazon MGM’s upcoming live-action film “Masters of the Universe” as Skeletor, the skull-faced archenemy of Eternia’s greatest warrior, He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine).
Director Travis Knight (“Bumblebee”) has also cast at least some of Skeletor’s coterie of henchmen. Sam C. Wilson (“House of the Dragon”) will play Trap Jaw; Kojo Attah (“The Beekeeper”) will play Tri-Klops; and Hafthor Bjornsson (“Game of Thrones”) will play Goat Man.
They’ll join the previously cast Alison Brie (“Promising Young Woman”) as Skeletor’s lieutenant, Evil-Lyn; Camila Mendes (“Riverdale”) as He-Man’s trusted compatriot, Teela; and Idris Elba (“Hijack”) as Teela’s father, Man-at-Arms.
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Chris Butler (“ParaNorman”) — who worked with Knight on Laika’s upcoming stop-motion animated feature “Wildwood” — wrote the latest draft of the screenplay, following writers David Callaham, and Aaron and Adam Nee. Escape Artists and Mattel Films are producing the film, which is scheduled to open on June 5, 2026.
Skeletor continues Leto’s streak of playing outlandish villains in major studio productions, which he started with his punk rock version of the Joker in 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” followed by his diabolical CEO in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049,” and the titular living vampire in 2022’s “Morbius” (which, to be fair, was more of an anti-hero than a villain). He’ll next play the lead role in Disney’s “Tron: Ares” with Evan Peters and Greta Lee.
Details about “Masters of the Universe” are being kept tightly guarded at castle Grayskull, but given the fantastical nature of the source material — which started as action figures in 1982 followed by the beloved animated series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” in 1983 — it seems likely that Leto, Wilson, Attah and Bjornsson may deliver at least some of their performances via motion-capture CGI. (By contrast, the last live-action adaptation of “Masters of the Universe,” released in 1987, used skull-like makeup to transform Frank Langella into Skeletor, opposite Dolph Lundgren’s oiled-up He-Man.)
Leto is represented by WME and Slate PR. Wilson is repped by Insight Entertainment. Attah is repped by Felix de Wolfe Agency. Bjornsson is repped by IceTalenta.