The Transformers film series will continue this summer with Transformers: The Last Knight, but after that, the franchise is expanding so it can get in on the cinematic universe craze. In addition to Transformers 6 being slated for 2019, longtime favorite Bumblebee will lead his own movie next year. The project has been slowly making progress over the last several months, but details regarding the actual story have understandably been locked tight. Thanks to Michael Bay, we finally have some real information about what the Bumblebee spinoff will be about: it'll follow a younger Bumblebee during an earlier point in his life, and it will, at least for the most part, avoid the other major Transformers characters. Here's what the Transformers director said about what we can expect from the Bumblebee movie:
It will go a little younger, and it will deal more with his character. And it's just about him.
While appearing at CinemaCon, Michael Bay provided the above comment to MTV, and when asked when the Bumblebee spinoff would take place on the Transformers timeline, he said that it would be "back" in the timeline. Bay wouldn't elaborate further, but this implies that the spinoff will be a prequel of some kind, perhaps telling his origin story. Now that this has been revealed, this may not bode well for Bumblebee's appearance in Transformers: The Last Knight. The final shot from the December trailer showed Optimus Prime attacking his onetime ally, and while many fans presumed he'd make it out of the fifth Transformers entry alive since he's getting his own movie, that's not guaranteed anymore. After all, Han Solo died in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but we'll be meeting up with the smuggler when he was younger in his own movie next year. The Bumblebee spinoff might be taking a similar approach, but we'll have to wait and see.
When we first met Bumblebee in 2007's Transformers, he'd arrived on Earth and had been sent to protect Sam Witwicky from the Deceptions. He remained Sam's protector for two more movies, and by the end of Transformers: Age of Extinction, he'd assumed command of the other Autobots following Optimus Prime's departure into space. Whatever happens to Bumblebee in The Last Knight, moviegoers are guaranteed at least one more appearance out of him, which begs one question: since this is taking place "back" in the timeline, will Bumblebee still be on Earth or will we see him on Cybertron? I suspect the former if only to stick with the formula laid out by the previous movies, but again, that's not certain. Part of me also wonders if this prequel information is a misdirect, and that during the events of The Last Knight, Bumblebee is somehow transported back in time, and that's where the spinoff picks up. It's an insane idea, I know, but this franchise is no stranger to weirdness.
Directed by Kubo and the Two Strings' Travis Knight and written by Shut In's Christina Hodson, the Bumblebee spinoff will roll into theaters on June 28, 2018.
