Beasts rise in the first trailer for Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts

We regret to inform you that The Transformers is back, but much like with 2018’s Bumblebee, it actually seems kind of cool when it’s not being handled by a filmmaker with a huge ego who actively dislikes the property. This new movie—set in the ‘90s and titled Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts—is directed by Steven Caple Jr. from Creed II, and it will introduce a new take on the animal Transformers from the Beast Wars animated series.

This first trailer shows off Ron Perlman’s robo-gorilla Optimus Primal (he’s like Optimus Prime but primal) and a bit of Michelle Yeoh’s robo-bird Airazor, but it also knows that the one robot we all want to see is Optimus Prime himself (voiced by Peter Cullen, as he always should be)—with Caple saying last year when the film was announced that Optimus would be Rise Of The Beasts’ “robot lead.” The human lead, then, is Anthony Ramos, playing somebody named Noah who strikes up a very Bumblebee-esque friendship with a Cybertronian named Mirage (he doesn’t say anything in this trailer, but he’s voiced by Pete Davidson).

The movie also stars Dominique Fishback, Peter Dinklage, Liza Koshy, and John DiMaggio (we were going to make a joke about Bender canonically being a Transformer now, but he’s done various voices in a ton of these movies already). Speaking of the other movies, Rise Of The Beasts is supposedly going to quietly sidestep them without explicitly infringing on the established mythology, but we can’t imagine anyone really caring about that. At some point after this, the Autobots go back into space and leave Bumblebee alone on Earth so the other movies can happen, and while Bee might not say “I’m friends with Hailee Steinfeld,” he probably won’t say “I’ve never met Hailee Steinfeld.” Maybe Star Wars should try an approach like that? It makes things a lot easier.

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts will be in theaters on June 9, 2023.