'It was hard making that selection': Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight explains why some popular He-Man characters were left out of the new sci-fi fantasy movie | Tech Radar
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'It was hard making that selection': Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight explains why some popular He-Man characters were left out of the new sci-fi fantasy movie
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2026's Masters of the Universe's movie doesn't include characters that many fans expected to see (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)
Masters of the Universe's cast doesn't include every popular character
Fan favorites like Orko are conspicuous by their absence from its trailers
The film's director has explained why they're not part of the main ensemble
The filmmaker behind this year's Masters of the Universe movie has forewarned fans that some of the franchise's most popular characters won't appear as part of its primary cast.
Speaking exclusively to Tech Radar, Travis Knight admitted he and the rest of the film's chief creative team had some tough choices to make over who to include in the new Amazon film. In the end, any fan favorites who didn't make the cut were left out because, in Knight's own words, they "wouldn't work within the story we're telling".
To be fair to Knight and company, there's a whole host of classic He-Man characters who are part of the proceedings. That said, there are notable absentees from its ensemble, including — but not limited to — Orko, Man-E-Faces, and Merman.
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Roboto (far left) and Cringer (far right) are part of this film's sizeable ensemble (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)
Understandably, there's no way that one of 2026's new movies could involve every famous face from the Mattel-created multimedia property. Nonetheless, some fans are sure to have been left disappointed when they realized that their favorite character wasn't part of the cast — especially when B-tier individuals like Ram-Man, Fisto, and Mechaneck made the cut.
As a self-confessed Masters of the Universe fan, Knight is well aware of the high regard that some characters are held in. But, as he told me, the film's creators had to draw a line in the sand somewhere to ensure its cast wasn't overstuffed, nor was its plot hindered by an immeasurable amount of character cameos.
"Movies are a time-based art," Knight said. "You only have so much time to tell the story that you want to tell and, even though it's called Masters of the Universe, it's fundamentally Adam's movie and story. So, there are definitely things that are outside the bounds of what you could tell in a two-and-a-half hour movie — you've got to be disciplined about that."
"There were certainly things that I wanted to put in the movie, but they wouldn't fit," he continued. "It would be a distraction and wouldn't work within the story that we're telling."
"It's such a big world and universe, and there are so many characters that I love, so it was hard making that selection," Knight added. "But, I do think that it honors so many different forms [of the franchise]. We have characters from the comic strips and the 1987 Dolph Lundgren live-action movie, so it really was a way for us to pay tribute to all the incredible work that's gone into this franchise over the last 40 years."
Want to know if He-Man's latest film adaptation is worth seeing? Check out my Masters of the Universe review before watching it in theaters from June 3 (UK) and June 5 (US and everywhere else). And, for more exclusive coverage of the flick, find out how Masters of the Universe pays tribute to the greatest He-Man meme of all time.
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As Tech Radar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.
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