Although there hasn’t been a lack of animated Transformers adventures on TV over the years, movie-wise, it’s all been live-action offerings since the main Transformers film series kicked off in 2007. That will soon change though, as there’s an animated movie on the way that will explore the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons on the planet Cybertron. As of today, not only do we know what this upcoming movie is officially called, its main cast has been revealed too, with Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson among the actors who are ready to roll out.
This news comes straight from Paramount Pictures’ presentation at CinemaCon, with the first big reveal being that this movie will be called Transformers One. Hemsworth will voice Optimus Prime in the prequel, and Johansson will voice Elita. Their castmates include Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, had this to say about the project in an official statement:
I’m so excited and proud to be working with Hasbro and eOne to bring the first animated Transformers movie in almost 40 years to theaters for a never-before-told story. I’m honored to have such incredible talents come together to portray these well-known and much-loved characters in an origin story at the heart of the franchise.
While this will actually be the second animated Transformers movie to be released in theaters since there was 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie, Transformers One is directly tied to the cinematic Transformers continuity that’s been going for more than a decade and a half now. Transformers One marks Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson’s first time working together outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where they respectively played Thor and Black Widow. All these actors have prior voice acting experience, including Keegan-Michael Key being most recently heard as Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Now we’ll get to hear these six actors’ takes on some of the popular robots in disguise.
Behind the scenes, Toy Story 4’s Josh Cooley is directing Transformers One off a script written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. The title and casting news comes just hours after the next Transformers movie, Rise of the Beasts, dropped a new trailer. While there are other movies in development for the franchise, this animated flick will allow moviegoers to venture further into the past then ever before and see what life on Cybertron was like before war broke out and its robotic denizens came to Earth, be it to simply find a new home or conquer humanity.
Transformers One arrives in theaters on July 19, 2024. While we wait for more updates about what to expect from it, keep track of this year’s theatrical entertainment with our guide of 2023 new movie releases. You can also stream the last Transformers movie, Bumblebee, with a Paramount+ subscription.
