Nicholas Galitzine is framing his body transformation journey as a badge of professional dedication — he's showing range by going from ripped He-Man to a leaner look for another project, proving he'll do whatever directors ask.
The actor was shooting 'a tiny little indie movie' right after Masters of the Universe wrapped and barely had time to process seeing his own He-Man billboards around Los Angeles — insiders say his schedule has been absolutely brutal with zero downtime.
Premiere took place Monday, May 19, 2026 at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Galitzine told Variety he had to transform his physique again just 'three weeks later' for another director who told him: 'I need you to not look the way you look right now.'
Three weeks. That's all it took for Nicholas Galitzine's boulder shoulders and rippling pectorals to become mac-and-cheese-fueled regret. Hollywood's body transformation mill never stops grinding, and Galitzine just gave us a front-row seat to the chaos.
Nicholas Galitzine is serving He-Man realness on the purple carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre premiere of Masters of the Universe — but don't let those boulder shoulders fool you. The actor just revealed the brutal truth about what happened to his physique immediately after cameras stopped rolling, and let's just say his post-He-Man diet was more sad-boi-hours than protein-powder prep. In a conversation with Variety at Monday night's premiere in Hollywood, Galitzine confessed that completing his intense physical transformation for the role meant something unexpected when his next project came knocking.
"I had to go into a movie three weeks later where the director said, 'I need you to not look the way you look right now, so eat what you want, stop weightlifting,'" he revealed. "I said, 'That is music to my ears. I'm not going to do anything for three weeks.' And I'll tell you, it's depressing.
It takes so long to put on, [but] it's so quick to come off." When pressed about what his non-training meals actually looked like during that rapid de-bulk, Galitzine got genuinely uncomfortable. "I was like, 'Macaroni cheese,' but you don't even want to know," he said. "It was sickening." There it is — the man who spent months building boulder shoulders and rippling pectorals for the most powerful man in the universe now cringing at the memory of his comfort food era.
The transformation from He-Man to 'whatever, I'll just eat pasta' took roughly 21 days, and Galitzine clearly has some feelings about it. Director Travis Knight was on hand to explain why Galitzine was their guy for this iconic role — and it's worth noting the filmmaker saw something special in him before the physical transformation even happened. "It's a very daunting ask to ask any actor and say, 'Hey, you're going to be the most powerful man in the universe.' That means boulder shoulders.
That means giant biceps. That means rippling pectorals and six-pack abs," Knight said, laughing. "But my man Nick, he completely embraced what that means." The director added that while Galitzine had "vulnerability, charisma, charm" and humor in spades, "no one's ever really seen him as an action hero" until now — which makes this premiere night a genuine career milestone for the British actor.
Speaking of milestones, Galitzine admitted he only recently saw those massive He-Man billboards around Los Angeles because his schedule has been absolutely relentless. "I've been shooting this tiny little indie movie, and have had no time to myself, and so I haven't been out and about, and I kind of thought, 'Oh, well, they must have just not started putting the He-Man posters up,'" he explained. "Yeah, cut to me flying into L.A., and I'm like, 'Oh, this is kind of a little bit overwhelming.'" Meanwhile, co-star Camila Mendes (playing Teela in the film) was having her own surreal moment on the purple carpet, genuinely pinching herself at the sight of giant posters featuring her face.
"I'm thinking a lot about little Camila tonight, who never imagined [this]," she said. "You never know if these things are going to happen again, so I'm just enjoying it." Beyond Masters of the Universe, Galitzine also touched briefly on Red, White & Royal Wedding — the hotly anticipated sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue where he returns as England's Prince Henry opposite Taylor Zakhar Perez's presidential son. "It's so rare that you get to return to something, so it felt like a really wholesome experience," he said, noting he's reunited with Taylor and Uma Thurman while Lena Headey has joined the cast. "I had a great time filming it." Whether that wholesome energy translates to box office magic remains to be seen, but for now Galitzine is living his best life at Hollywood's most exclusive premiere — even if that life involves zero weightlifting and way too much macaroni and cheese.
