Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook ’em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019.
Kristen Wiig will voice the mechanical warrior in the upcoming Masters of the Universe film adaptation from Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed. Previous versions of the character have been voiced by Justin Long, Alan Oppenheimer, and Michael Donovan.
Per The Hollywoood Reporter, which first revealed the casting on Friday, the big-budget project is now in post-production. The film, which hails from director Travis Knight (Bumblebee), is based on the Mattel toys, which originally launched as a line of action figures in 1982 that were accompanied by comics, which then spun into 1983’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series, and resulted in dozens of toys, comics, series, and films in the years since.
The character of Roboto was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985. He later appeared in the mini-comic The Battle of Roboto, in which he is built by Man-at-Arms. The character has a transparent metal body, with high intelligence and a cybernetically-enhanced heart that allows him to feel emotions.
Wiig joins a beefy cast headlined by Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, Camila Mendes as Teela, Jared Leto as his arch-nemesis Skeletor, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn.
Galitzine previously revealed the film had wrapped shooting in an Instagram post in June, which showed off his transformation into the character. “Well, that’s a wrap on Masters of the Universe,” Galitzine captioned the post. “It has been an honour shouldering the responsibility of playing Adam and He Man. It’s been the role of a lifetime and I put everything into it.”
He continued, “There’s not much I can show you, but I am so proud of the movie we’ve made. Thanks to our amazing cast and crew for all your hard work.”
The current cast is rounded out by Idris Elba, who will play the noble Man-at-Arms; Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Malcolm/Fisto; Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress; James Purefoy as King Randor; and Charlotte Riley as Queen Marlena.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson), Tri-Klops (Kojo Attah), and Goat Man (Hafthor Bjornsson) fill out the cast as Skeletor’s henchmen. The film features a script from Chris Butler (Missing Link, ParaNorman) after initial drafts penned by David Callaham and Aaron and Adam Nee (The Lost City).
Read more on Entertainment Weekly
