“Masters of the Universe” hits Australian cinemas today (June 4th), but Camila Mendes, who plays Teela in the new iteration, already has high hopes for the blockbuster. In fact, she’s hoping fans will receive a sequel.
“[A franchise is] the dream, you know,” she told Variety Australia in a new interview. “I would love to get another crack at this and be able to dig deeper into the characters.”
For Mendes, stepping back into the role of hero Teela will mean plenty of training, but it’s something she’s willing to do. “I had to train for months leading up to the film and so those stunts, you know, the few seconds of screen time that you see took months and months of training to get down,” the star explained.
However, she wants to make sure she portrays both the strong side of Teela as well as her more empathetic and sensitive side. “[Director] Travis [Knight] did such a beautiful job with his vision of the film and making Teela have a lot of heart, and you can feel like that there’s this deeper empathy and sensitivity underneath that tough outer shell.”
When asked who the real hero is in “Masters of the Universe,” Mendes concedes that it’s not only Adam, or He-Man (played by Nicholas Galitzine). “I think they’re all heroes. That’s the whole point. I think it’s a group of heroes that are all, you know, helping each other, and they couldn’t have done it alone.”
“Masters of the Universe” is based on a set of Mattel toys that include the blonde He-Man and evil Skeletor. It spawned the popular animated series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” in the ‘80s, along with two films prior to the 2026 version.
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The 1987 film starred Dolph Lundgren in the title role, Courteney Cox, Frank Langella and James Tolkan, but was panned by critics. At the time, Variety called it a “colossal bore” and labelled it a “Conan-Star Wars hybrid spinoff.” Reactions to the 2026 film have been more positive, with viewers describing it as “memorable” and “real heart.”
“Masters of the Universe” is out now in Australian cinemas.