Masters of the Universe: David S. Goyer shares details on his scrapped film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Netflix released the first episodes in the Masters of the Universe: Revelation animated series today and they're developing another animated series called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but it's been a while since we heard any positive updates on the live-action Masters of the Universe movie that has been in development hell for a long time. 4 years ago, David S. Goyer was briefly attached to write and direct the film – and during a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Goyer gave some details on the story he was planning to tell.

As it turns out, Goyer's Masters of the Universe would have been about Battle Cat learning to accept a new He-Man. He explains, 

I legitimately liked the script that we did. We were going to do it as a feature at Sony. What I liked the most about it was that it was mostly about a friendship between He-Man and Battle Cat. The idea was there had always been He-Men and different recipients of the Sword of Power and that Battle Cat had always served at their side. And this was a new He-Man that Battle Cat and many people didn’t think was worthy of the sword. So it was a story of the character earning the sword, but, more importantly, earning the friendship of Battle Cat, who just thought this guy was a lightweight. I really liked it. I thought it was a fun story. There was a lot of humor in it and it creeps up on you because Battle Cat sort of grudgingly accepts him, and it’s Battle Cat’s acceptance of He-Man that gave this version of the story heart."

Talk of a new live-action Masters of the Universe began in 2004, at which time John Woo was the director of choice. The project has been in the hands of Sony since 2009, and over the last twelve years Goyer, John Stevenson, Jon M. Chu, Jeff Wadlow, and McG have all been attached to direct. Screenplays have been written by Goyer, Wadlow, Mike Finch and Alex Litvak, Evan Daugherty, Terry Rossio, and Chris Yost, but for some reason this thing never goes into production.

After Goyer dropped out of the project due to scheduling issues, Sony scrapped his ideas because they felt his version of the story would be too expensive to bring to the screen. Aaron and Adam Nee stepped in to take the helm, and a new draft of the script was written by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. The film even had its He-Man for a while: Noah Centineo was attached to the project for two years before he stepped away earlier this year.

Nothing further has been reported about Masters of the Universe since Centineo left.