Nicholas Galitzine's Extreme 'Masters of the Universe' Workout Reveals What It Really Takes to Play He-Man
Nicholas Galitzine is a lot of things: a rom-com heartthrob, a Golden Globe contender, a guy who starred opposite Anne Hathaway. What he was not, going into Masters of the Universe, was the most physically imposing actor in any room. He spent the better part of a year fixing that.
In a new interview with Fandango's Big Ticket podcast, Galitzine opened up about what it actually took to transform his body into He-Man's. The details are not for the faint of heart. 'There were moments where I would be fasted for 18 hours and doing a three-hour weight session while fasted and then going and doing stunts right after,' he said. 'It would test your resolve.' He paused, then added with a laugh, 'It kind of built character in a real way.'
Galitzine worked under celebrity trainer David Kingsbury, who has put Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, and Ryan Reynolds through their paces for superhero roles. According to Men's Journal, Galitzine consumed around 4,000 calories a day during the bulk phase before transitioning into a leaner cutting period. He told Entertainment Weekly the process pushed him 'physically and mentally' beyond what he had expected going in. 'The person who started the process was nowhere near ready, both physically and emotionally, to embody this larger-than-life hero,' he told Fandango. 'So I loved the process of kind of suffering for the role.' Director Travis Knight recalled seeing Galitzine after months of training and being floored. 'I couldn't believe how much he had changed,' Knight said. 'It looks like a totally different dude.'
Co-star Camila Mendes, who plays Teela, started her own training in September 2024, months before cameras rolled. She and Galitzine both acknowledged in the interview that they came to He-Man as children of the '90s who knew the franchise mainly through internet memes, not as die-hard fans of the original 1983 cartoon. For director Knight, however, this project was something he had wanted to make for decades. He grew up on the animated series and came to it as a true believer in what Eternia could look like on a modern screen.
The Masters of the Universe movie is currently among the most anticipated releases of the summer, tracking alongside The Mandalorian & Grogu and The Devil Wears Prada 2 in audience attention metrics. It opens June 5 from Amazon MGM Studios. The cast also includes Jared Leto as Skeletor, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn.
Galitzine was candid that the physique was never something he intended to maintain. 'This isn't something I'd be keen to do or maintain all year round,' he told People. The hard part, it seems, was always going to be the transformation itself, and if the results are anything like what Travis Knight saw on set, fans of a certain age are in for something that looks very much like their childhood made real.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 5:12 AM.