While Transformers fans have Transformers: Rise of the Beasts to look forward to in June, another project that has been long in the works is the animated Transformers prequel that has been rumoured to explore the early days of the Autobot/Decepticon war. Now we have a better idea of the film’s story as Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed it will tell the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron’s iconic rivalry.
In an interview with Collider, di Bonaventura gave extensive details of the film’s premise which will detail the friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron as they tried changing Cybertronian society for the better before their differing ideals led them to become lifelong enemies in a planet-wide war.
“I could tell you really important parts of this story, which is more than a tease,” di Bonaventura said. “This is something we were trying to do; we debated a lot about it in live action, and it just was financially impossible to do, which is, the origin story of young Megatron and young Optimus. If you know the origin, they started as friends, and over time things devolved for them and they ended up on two sides. So we’re telling the young Optimus and the young Megatron story. We really are telling the origin story of all Transformers, both what they were at the beginning of it, to how they grow, to how they grow apart.”
The origin story detailing Optimus and Megatron’s former friendship has been told in Transformers novels and comics, but has never been seen in any animated series, video game or film, live-action or animated. Di Bonaventura also expressed hope that the origins of Optimus, Megatron and the war between the Autobots and Decepticons could be explored in a trilogy of animated films.
“We’re hoping that there is enough emotional construct to that, that would lead to a trilogy of it because, personally, I think there’s a natural trilogy. I’m not always looking to do multiple movies, but there’s a natural trilogy around their relationship. So, you’re going to see Cybertron in a way you’ve never seen it, that no one’s ever seen it before. Because we’re doing an animation, we’re allowed to really go all out. If you tried to make this live-action, it would probably be a billion-dollar movie or something.”
In addition to detailing Optimus and Megatron’s origins, the film will also give insight into life on Cybertron and how its government and society influenced the start of the war between the two leaders and their factions.
“You’re going to see a lot of the origins of the society, and what broke it apart. The analogy for me is a bit like Krypton when you saw the planet falling apart, and all that. We’re not there for a short time, we’re there the entire time of the movie, we’re on Cybertron, but we are in the challenge that, if you know the lore, they begin to question the hierarchy of how their society has gotten stratified, and how the common man doesn’t have the voice, entirely, that they want to have. We’re following very true to the origin story of it, and so it’s really fun, too, because I’ve gotten to see some of it – it’s not fully executed by any stretch of the imagination, but hearing Optimus and Megatron not as who we know them as, which we see their maturation in this experience. So, in a sense, you’re hearing a different character because you’re hearing them before they have matured.”
SEE ALSO: One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall: The Best Fights of Optimus Prime and Megatron
The untitled Transformers prequel is set for release on July 19th, 2024. Are you excited to see the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron? What would you like to see in the film? Let us know on our social channels at @flickeringmyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
Originally published April 21, 2023. Updated April 23, 2023.
