Alison Brie says nothing in her career, not Community, Mad Men, or even GLOW, has triggered quite the same reaction from men as her upcoming role in Masters of the Universe.
Brie will play the iconic villain Evil-Lyn opposite Jared Leto as Skeletor in the live-action reboot of the beloved Mattel franchise.
Speaking to People, Brie admitted the level of nostalgia surrounding the project has been intense, especially among the men in her life who grew up obsessed with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe during the 1980s.
“People have been coming out of the woodwork to talk to me about it, people I haven’t heard from in ages because they’re so excited about it,” Brie said. “It’s very cute.”
Then she delivered the line that basically sums up the entire cultural power of He-Man nostalgia: “It’s the most excited the men in my life have ever been about anything I’ve ever done!”
For an entire generation, Masters of the Universe wasn’t just a cartoon. It was lunchboxes, action figures, toy aisles, Saturday mornings, and aggressively ripped plastic heroes fighting skeleton-faced warlocks in neon-colored fantasy worlds.
Brie said the excitement now stretches across generations. “I think it has that multi-generational connection because I know all the people who originally grew up on it are excited, and then they have kids and they’re excited to bring them,” she explained.
She added that even her nephews are fully onboard with the reboot, joking that some of the middle-aged men celebrating her casting probably still own their original He-Man figures.
The new adaptation arrives as Hollywood continues to aggressively mine beloved toy brands following the massive success of Barbie, which transformed Mattel properties from nostalgic merchandise into major cinematic IPs again.
Alongside Brie and Leto, the film also stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/He-Man, plus Idris Elba, Kristen Wiig, Camila Mendes, and Morena Baccarin.
According to the official synopsis, Galitzine’s Prince Adam grows up on Earth disconnected from his origins before eventually discovering the Sword of Power and returning to save Eternia.
The project also revisits a franchise with surprisingly deep roots in pop culture. What began as Mattel’s He-Man toy line in 1982 exploded into a global entertainment phenomenon and later inspired the cult 1987 live-action adaptation starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, and Courteney Cox.
For Brie, the role continues one of the more interesting careers in Hollywood — someone equally comfortable in prestige drama, absurdist comedy, indie films, and now giant fantasy franchises featuring skull-faced villains yelling at muscular sword princes.
Which, frankly, sounds like a pretty fun résumé evolution. Masters of the Universe opens in theaters nationwide on June 5th.
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