Jared Leto officially confirmed to play Skeletor in Masters of the Universe

It’s…Skeletor’ing time? Following rumours earlier this year, Jared Leto is confirmed to be playing the role of Skeletor in the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie. A handful of other villains have also been cast, including Sam C. Wilson (House of the Dragon) as Trap Jaw, Hafthor Bjornsson (Game of Thrones) as Goat Man, and Kojo Attah (In the Grey) as Tri-Klops.

Masters of the Universe will star Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as Prince Adam/He-Man, Camila Mendes (Do Revenge) as Captain Teela, Alison Brie (Community) as Evil-Lyn, and Idris Elba (Sonic the Hedgehog 3) as Man-at-Arms/Duncan. The project has been in the works for quite some time with a revolving door of directors, writers, and actors, but at long last, it seems like it’s finally happening. Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) will direct from a script by Chris Butler, with initial drafts penned by David Callaham, and Aaron & Adam Nee.

The project was previously set up at Netflix, but the streaming service scrapped the project last summer. Aaron and Adam Nee were tapped to write and direct the project before it fell apart, reportedly due to budget issues. Netflix had already spent close to $30 million on development costs, with the budget ballooning to over $200 million. There was an attempt to bring the budget down, with the idea of shooting the movie back-to-back with a sequel in order to amortize the cost, but an agreement couldn’t be reached. The project later found a new home at Amazon MGM Studios. Masters of the Universe will be released in theaters on June 5, 2026.

Leto will next be seen in Tron: Ares, the long-awaited Tron sequel. Leto stars as Ares, a highly sophisticated program that is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings. The film also stars Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, and Jeff Bridges reprising his role of Kevin Flynn.

What do you think of Jared Leto playing Skeletor in Masters of the Universe?