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He-Man's biggest responsibility: Not screwing up Masters of the Universe's Castle Grayskull
The Masters of the Universe movie has some larger-than-life characters, but none of them are bigger than Castle Grayskull itself, so they had to make it with CGI
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We’re always a huge proponent of practical effects where possible, but sometimes it just isn’t feasible. When creating a landmark as iconic and imposing as Castle Grayskull for the upcoming Masters of the Universe film based on the He-Man toy line and cartoon, the production designer could feel the pressure from the fandom to get it right. Trying to remain faithful to the original Castle Grayskull also meant relying on CGI - for the sake of public safety.
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Masters of the Universe production designer Guy Hendrix explained how important it was to get the setting of Eternia right for the film. But, more than anything in the He-Man lore, it was important to nail the look and feel of Castle Grayskull. “It was my biggest responsibility, if I’m honest with you,” he said. “This was something I couldn’t mess up. I know people are going to judge me on this. It’s got to be right. This is one of the icons of the film.”
Despite the jump into live-action, Hendrix looked to the original He-Man toys for inspiration. “I made sure that what I was creating, whether it was the terrain around it or the mechanism that ran the Jawbridge, was faithful [to the toy].”
However, that didn’t mean he could build a life-size set for the film. Not even a He-Man-sized budget could support that; even if it did, it could cause chaos in the area around the production set. The Castle Grayskull in Masters of the Universe is just too big for our world, so they had to make it with CGI. “It probably would have loomed over the A1 and caused car crashes,” Hendrix admits, which would not have made the people of London fans of the film.
You can see if Guy Hendrix got Castle Grayskull right when Masters of the Universe comes to cinemas on June 5, 2026.
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