Camila Mendes has moved into her blockbuster era. The Riverdale star’s latest role is as Eternia’s hero Teela in Masters of the Universe, alongside Nicholas Galitzine, Alison Brie, Idris Elba and Jared Leto. Her character is bad-ass and is tasked with looking after the men in her life who have yet to find their inner strength. To us, she’s the real hero of the story.
For her role as Teela, Mendes had to spend months bulking up and training to achieve the physicality required. I spoke to her about why she loved feeling strong, if she sees Masters of the Universe becoming a big franchise, and her one fear when it came to portraying such an outwardly strong character.
Refinery29: This film was so fun and campy! It was so cool to see a badass female character like Teela. How did it feel to portray such a pillar of strength?
Camila Mendes: Honestly, it was a bit daunting because I always worry whenever you’re playing a character that’s so outwardly strong that the audience is going to have trouble connecting to her, but I think Travis did such a beautiful job with his vision of the film and making Teela have a lot of heart, and you can like feel that there’s this deeper empathy and sensitivity underneath that tough outer shell. I feel like I loved playing her strength, but really, I just wanted to make sure that this more human quality of hers was coming through.
It’s different to see a woman who’s so strong, as well.
CM: It was so cool, because obviously I knew I was going to have to train a lot for this film, and I love that, because I’m somebody who loves to work out. I love fitness, but I’ve never had such specific goals, especially the goal of gaining muscle and bulking up, so to have a goal like that for a project, it’s like a great excuse to be able to do that. And it made me realise just how I feel like women are sometimes so afraid of putting on muscle and weight training, because they think they’re going to get super big, but it’s actually one of the best feelings ever. I couldn’t stop touching my muscles during this project, I kept flexing for everyone I met. I lost it now, but trust me, during that movie I was strong,
I did also love that it’s a female character that doesn’t need to be saved. She can save herself.
CM: Yes, and not just save herself, but save the others around her, because she’s dealing with Duncan, who’s sort of lost touch with himself and he’s disconnected from his own strength, and then you have Adam, who still hasn’t really connected to his inner strength at all. She’s the one who’s really holding their hands through it until they’re they sort of are on their feet, ready to fight for themselves.
I couldn’t stop touching my muscles during this project, I kept flexing for everyone I met.
Camila Mendes on her Masters of the universe transformation
Who is the real hero of the film? I’m a big Teela fan.
CM: I think they’re all heroes, that’s the whole point. I think it’s a group of heroes that are all helping each other, and they couldn’t have done it alone.
How did you prepare for the fight scenes, did you do your own stunts?
CM: I had to train for months leading up to the film. Those stunts, the few seconds of screen time that you see, took months and months of training to get down,
Do you hope that it becomes a franchise?
CM: Oh, of course, that’s the dream, you know. I would love to get another crack at this and be able to dig deeper into the characters.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Masters of the Universe hits theaters on June 5, 2026.
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