We’re less than a week away from the release of Transformers: The Last Knight, but Paramount Pictures is already turning its attention to the future of the franchise, specifically the Bumblebee spin-off that will focus on the yellow Autobot scout.
The latest issue of Empire, via TFW2005, reveals that the film, directed by Kubo and the Two Strings‘ Travis Knight, will be set in a decade very familiar to Transformers fans: the 1980s.
1984 was the year Transformers franchise began, first with a toyline and then the original cartoon series. That era is known to fans as Generation One, where Bumblebee transformed into a Volkswagen Beetle. Michael Bay quickly referenced this in the very first Transformers film, but perhaps we’ll see him actually take this form or something similar in the spin-off.
Empire also revealed that the film will have fewer robots than the other Transformers films, with the focus obviously being on Bumblebee. It also notes that the film’s tone will gear more towards a younger audience previous instalments in the franchise
Additionally, as Paramount considers the 14 different potential spin-offs for their Transformers Cinematic Universe, an animated prequel about the war on Cybertron is in the works with Ant-Man‘s Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari writing the script, as well as another possible prequel set in Ancient Rome. We may have to update our piece on the convoluted continuity in Transformers.
Bumblebee is written by Christina Hodson and recently cast Hailee Steinfeld as a tomboy who also holds a job as a mechanic after school.
Originally published June 14, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
