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The next Transformers movie will adapt Beast Wars for the big screen

By Tim Augustin - on 23 Jun 2021, 5:07pm

The next Transformers movie will adapt Beast Wars for the big screen

Image: Paramount Pictures

The next live-action Transformers movie is a real beast.

Paramount has announced the title of the next live-action Transformers movie - Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The movie takes place in the 90s and serves as a sequel to Bumblebee instead of Michael Bay’s movies, throwing in elements from the fan-favourite 1990s animated series Beast Wars for good measure. 

Here’s Paramount’s logline for the film:

Returning to the action and spectacle that first captured moviegoers around the world 14 years ago with the original Transformers, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting adventure and introduce the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on earth between Autobots and Decepticons.

According to a recent press event (via The Hollywood Reporter), the movie will feature Optimus Prime in his classic G1 form with Peter Cullen returning to voice. Bumblebee also returns as an off-road Camaro along with Mirage (a Porsche 911) and Arcee (Ducati 916). Three Maximals were also confirmed: Airazor, Rhinox and Optimus Primal. 

Image: Paramount Pictures

The Maximals and Predacons are more or less Beast Wars’ futuristic versions of the Autobot-Decepticon factions. However, Rise of the Beast’s main villain will come from an entirely different faction: the Terrorcons. Optimus will come into conflict with them and their leader, Scourge in the film. In Transformers lore, the Terrorcons can be roughly described as nightmarish creatures and a faction unto themselves. In one of their origin stories, they were Decepticon zombies created using Dark Energon. 

This version of Scourge is described as a formidable villain who fuses parts of fallen Autobots and Maximals with his own body, which certainly fits in with past depictions of Terrorcons. It wouldn’t be a Transformers movie without humans however, so enter Noah and Elena. Noah (In the Heights’ Anthony Ramos) is a Brooklyn resident who has recently returned home after military service with a gift for electronics, and Elena (Project Power’s Dominique Fishback) is an artifact researcher at a museum. 

In addition to the animal-like Maximals and Predacons, we’re also getting new Autobots and Decepticons never seen before on the big screen. That makes for quite a lot of robots sharing the same screen - so I wouldn’t worry too much about Noah and Elena stealing their thunder. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will hit theaters on 23 June 2022, directed by Steven Caple Jr. (Creed 2). 

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