Actor Nicholas Galitzine‘s starpower has been steadily growing for years, thanks to his acclaimed performances on both TV and film. Galitzine’s movies span multiple genre, and he’ll take center stage in the upcoming live-action Masters of the Universe movie. The star of Red, White, and Royal Blue (which is streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription) recently talked about bulking up to play Prince Adam Glenn / He-Man. And he makes the whole process sound super intense.
What we know about Masters of the Universe is super limited, but longtime fans of the franchise are curious to see how Bumblebee director Travis Knight will adapt it into live-action. Fans are waiting to see the movie’s first trailer, but in a conversation with People Galitzine got real about just how hard it was to bulk up for He-Man. In his words:
It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done; it was a daily challenge. But there is something incredibly empowering about committing to something so heavily. I’ve never had a challenge like that before, which really every single day you have to wake up and you can see the peak of the mountain vaguely, but especially when you’re bulking. I think it would be insincere for me to say that it was easy.
Ouch. Plenty of superhero actors put on weight to play comic book characters, including Paul Rudd, Chris Pratt, and more. He-Man is particularly massive in the animated series, and wears very little clothes. So the pressure was on for Nicholas Galitzine to do his character justice in Masters of the Universe, and it sounds like it was a daily struggle to work out and consume the amount of calories necessary to get yoked.
In the first look at The Sword of Power, we saw a glimpse of Galitzine’s body in Masters of the Universe. Longtime fans of the franchise will likely be judging his physique closely, which the 31 year-old actor likely knew ahead of time. In the same interview he spoke more about the physical transformation he made, saying:
You don’t recognize yourself, you don’t fit in any of your clothes anymore.
That must be a strange experience. While actors are often required to change their appearances for roles, Galitzine couldn’t wear any of his actual clothes as a result of his Masters of the Universe bulk. And he also seemed surprised by what he looked like when seeing his own reflection.
Throughout his career so far, Nicholas Galitzine has definitely rocked a number of looks, including big changes to his hair color and style in projects like Red, White, and Royal Blue and The Idea of You. But his weight gain for Masters of the Universe was another type of transformation.
Despite how hard this process was, the Craft: Legacy star doesn’t regret the work he put in in order to fill out He-Man’s harness and skirt. As he put it:
But really, I’m so gratified that I got to experience it and trying to fit this very larger-than-life character.
Larger than life is right, and I can’t wait to see just how huge he looks when the first footage from Masters of the Universe is finally released to the general public. The movie is expected to hit theaters this summer, so it’s only a matter of time.
Alison Brie debunked a rumor about Masters of the Universe, specifically the idea that most of the movie would be set on Earth. Anticipation for the project is steadily building, and it should reach a fever pitch once fans can see the cast in costume.
Masters of the Universe is currently set to arrive in theaters on June 5th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Fingers crossed the trailer comes sooner rather than later.
