In an era where everything old is new again, the Transformers are making a huge comeback. But don’t worry. If you weren’t a fan of the Michael Bay CGI extravaganza of blurriness, this new Transformers movie might just be for you. Continuing in the same universe as the 2018 Bumblebee prequel, the new movie will be very different from the Bay movies. And if that wasn’t enough to get you excited, then the latest casting news definitely will. We now have confirmation that Michelle Yeoh is in Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts voicing the Maximal Airazor.
Give Michelle Yeoh All The Awards!
Credit: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Joining Michelle Yeoh in Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is comedian Pete Davidson, from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Yeoh is currently an odds-on favourite for awards season, after her performance in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Yeoh is having a great run right now, with roles in Star Trek: Discovery and Shang-Chi. Not to mention upcoming projects like the Avatar sequels, The Witcher: Blood Origin and the recently announced A Haunting In Venice. Yeoh will voice Airazor, a Maximal character originally introduced in Transformers: Beast Wars.
While Pete Davidson is not a performer that I’m a huge fan of, he is a very popular comedian. Critics appreciated his performance in The King of Staten Island. And I quite enjoyed his brief appearance in The Suicide Squad. Although, that might have to do with the characters getting killed off almost immediately. Even the trailer for his upcoming time-travel comedy – Meet Cute with Kaylie Cuoco – looks pretty charming. Davidson will voice the Autobot Mirage.
Director Stephen Caple Jr. (Creed II) announced the inclusion of Michelle Yeoh in Transformers: Rise Of the Beasts, along with Pete Davidson, in two behind-the-scenes videos. Posted to his Instagram, the videos show both Yeoh and Davidson recording their voices in the studio.
How Will Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Differ from the Others?
Credit: Bumblebee
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is set in the ’90s. It acts as a prequel to the Bay movies while being a sequel to the Bumblebee movie. Written by Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Flash) the new movie will introduce a new breed of Transformers to the franchise.
While a lot of the plot details are unclear, we do know that new robot tribes of Maximals and Terrorcons will join the fight on Earth between the Autobots and Decepticons. How they’ll all factor into the plot is still unknown. But the most exciting part of this movie is how it will include characters from the 90’s run of Transformers, called Beast Wars!
What The Heck Is Beast Wars?!
Credit: Transformers: Beast Wars
Beast Wars premiered in 1996 and featured a different kind of Transformers. It was one of the first CG-animated Transformers series. The series saw a group of descendants of the original Autobots and Decepticons, the Maximals and Predacons, engaged in their generational war. After a group of both factions crash land on a pre-historic planet, they have to take the forms of the indigenous animals on that planet. So instead of Robots in disguise as machines or cars, they’re animals. Hence, the title of Beast Wars.
The show saw a new Optimus in Optimus Primal, along with a new villain in Megatron, named after the original. Later seasons of the show tied in the story to the original Transformers shows, revealing the planet to be a prehistoric Earth. And how the original Autobot and Decepticons, were already present, but in stasis, awaiting their eventual awakening in the 80s. As per the original animated series. The story saw the Beast Wars version of the characters, having to protect their ancestors, and preserve the original timeline.
Much like the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Beast Wars introduced Transformers to a whole new generation of fans. Recently, Netflix’s Transformers: War For Cybertron anime trilogy connected the original story with that of Beasts Wars. Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts will seemingly adapt the Beast Wars story, or use characters from that iteration in this new live-action film.
Michelle Yeoh in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Joins a Stellar Cast
Credit: Meet Cute
On top of Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson in the Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, the movie has even more talented actors. The cast is led by Anthony Ramos (In The Heights) and Dominique Fishback (Judas And The Black Messiah) as, potentially, the human characters in the movie. The new film also sees the return of original Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen, joined by Ron Perlman who will voice the Optimus Primal version of the character.
The full slate of which other Transformers will appear in the new movie is unclear at this time. But stay tuned to this space for more details as they arrive.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts releases in theatres on June 9, 2023.
