It’s learned the live-action He-Man Masters of the Universe movie in development at Amazon MGM Studios has cast Idris Elba as none other than Man-At-Arms.
The actor known for playing Heimdall in the Marvel movies joins the previously announced cast which includes Nicholas Galitzine as the titular character and Prince Adam and Camila Mendes as Teelah, with Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn.
In He-Man lore, Teelah is the daughter of Man-At-Arms, at times either adopted or biological (Idris Elba happens to be Black, Camila Mendes is Brazilian, Latin American).
According to a description at Deadline for Man-At-Arms, they are going the adopted route:
Duncan is a good guy and for centuries has been the weapons master and combat instructor to the royal family, and is also called Man-At-Arms. He was trained by Dekker and is a veteran of the Great Unrest, and he was tasked by King Randor to create the elite strike force, which he named The Masters of the Universe. Man-At-Arms and his adopted daughter Teela often scout the borders of Eternia for signs of lurking evil.
What is Masters of the Universe about?
Deadline also previously describe the flick as being set on Earth, which as I have said is a HUGE mistake. Their report about Idris Elba getting cast as Man-at-Arms makes no mention of the setting, so hopefully whatever dummy came up with that has been let go and that plot has been scrapped:
10-year-old Prince Adam who crashed to Earth in a spaceship and was separated from his magical Power Sword—the only link to his home on Eternia. After tracking it down almost two decades later, Prince Adam is whisked back across space to defend his home planet against the evil forces of Skeletor. But to defeat such a powerful villain, Prince Adam will first need to uncover the mysteries of his past and become He-Man: the most powerful man in the Universe!
Details include Travis Knight (Bumblebee) is directing Masters of the Universe from a screenplay by Chris Butler (Knight’s Kubo and the Two Strings stop-motion animated action fantasy film writer). David Callaham and the Nee brothers took an initial crack at the script. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Robbie Brenner and Steve Tisch are producing.
Idris Elba stars as the voice of Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 which gets released on Dec. 20.
