Idris Elba on Playing Man-At-Arms and How MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Was a Big Part of His Childhood

Idris Elba has built a career on jumping into wildly different worlds, and that fearless streak has taken him from street-level dramas to giant blockbusters and full-on sci-fi chaos. He’s been a cybernetic menace in Hobbs & Shaw, survived pure comic-book insanity in The Suicide Squad, and now he’s stepping into Eternia as Man-At-Arms in Masters of the Universe.

Playing the iconic warrior and weapons master of Eternia’s royal palace gave Elba a direct line back to his younger self. The actor recently shared how much the franchise meant to him growing up.

“It’s a really big part of my childhood,” he says while talking to Empire about his love for Masters of the Universe. That connection wasn’t casual either. He had the toys, watched the cartoons, and lived in that colorful universe long before stepping onto a movie set.

There was also a practical reason He-Man and company became such a staple in his house. As Elba explains, “My parents couldn’t afford the Star Wars toys, and the He-Man toys were cheaper, because it wasn’t as big. So I had He-Man, She-Ra, Battle Cat…”

Those figures were entry points into a world that felt larger than life, especially through the animated series that leaned into its weirdness. “The cartoons were always a little bit more fun, a bit more camp, a bit more out-there,” he recalls.

That same energy is what convinced Elba to fully commit when he learned what kind of movie this version of Masters of the Universe aimed to be.

Director Travis Knight wasn’t interested in sanding down the toy roots or hiding the franchise’s personality. Elba loved that approach. “Travis, who’s an incredible director, wanted to pay homage to the aesthetic of the original. I was all for that.”

Embracing that look did come with one immediate realization though. “Though it made me think, ‘Shit, I’ve gotta get into the gym!’”

Once production kicked off, the scale of it all sealed the deal with its massive sets. larger-than-life characters, and Eternia brought into physical reality. Elba describes the experience with pure fan energy.

“It was like being at a big amusement arcade with all these massive characters,” he says. That sense of play seems baked into the entire production, and it’s hard not to get excited hearing him talk about it.

For fans who grew up with He-Man, Masters of the Universe seems like it’s aiming to deliver that same rush.