**Mild Spoilers for Transformers: the Last Knight**
With Transformers: the Last Knight officially opening in theaters, speculative and restless eyes are turning towards new details regarding next summer’s Bumblebee movie, the first standalone spinoff for the franchise.
We already know that Bumblebee will be directed by Kubo and the Two Strings’ Travis Knight and that it begins production in August. The first non-Michael Bay entry in the Hasbro series will chronicle the Autobot camaro’s adventures during the 1980’s – the era in which the original “G1” animated series aired on television. The setting of the spinoff gives Bumblebee an opportunity to explore the roots of the series that inspired this popular film franchise and potentially offer something fresh and different.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Transformers: the Last Knight producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was asked what vehicle he would like to see be turned into a Transformer for future iterations. His answer to the question let slip some minor details about the designs we can expect to see in the 80’s set spinoff:
“That we haven’t done? Oh, I don’t know. You know I am looking forward to in the Bumblebee movie reliving the eighties Transformers and what those kind of cars can look like, so I think that’s really fun.”
Based on di Bonaventura’s answer, we can expect the spinoff to embrace the ’80s aesthetic in its production design, particularly the vehicles used by Bumblebee and any other possible robots in disguise. In the first generation version of the character, Bumblebee transformed from a punch-buggy Volkswagen Beetle. This was changed in Michael Bay’s original Transformers film, as when Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky and his dad goes to buy him he’s posing as an old Chevy Camaro, and an old beat up yellow bug parked nearby as a nod for fans. If the producer’s comments are to be taken that way, there’s going to be some nostalgic callbacks to the early era of Transformers in the spinoff. And there should be!
Transformers: the Last Knight implies a long, untold history in the relationship between humans and Transformers, forming a pact during medieval King Arthur times to protect the Earth from major threats. Bumblebee is revealed to have played a big part in that history, as one flashback sequence shows that the Autobot was a fierce warrior who helped the Allies defeat the Nazis during World War II. Throughout the five films, he’s the Autobot we’ve gotten to spend the most time with and get to know, so giving him the spotlight over Optimus Prime and returning to his classic roots could produce exciting results.
Bumblebee will start filming in July on track for a June 2018 release date. The Edge of Seventeen’s Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to star in the spinoff, which will feature a storyline in the vein of Iron Giant.
More: What to Expect from the Bumblebee Spinoff
Key Release Dates
Bumblebee
Release Date:2018-12-21Transformers: The Last Knight
Release Date:2017-06-21