The next movie to arrive from the Transformers franchise will be the animated feature Transformers One, but is the animated movie connected to the canon of the live-action films? Set on Cybertron, Transformers One is a prequel filling in the origins of the Transformers. It will tell the story of how Optimus Prime and Megatron went from best friends to mortal enemies. Transformers One was originally scheduled for release on July 19, 2024, but it was later delayed to September 13 of the same year.
Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley is on board to helm the project from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, two writers from the Transformers franchise’s shared writers’ room. This writers’ room was assembled to give the Transformers saga a cohesive ongoing narrative tying all the movies together, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, in that spirit, is Transformers One a part of the larger narrative of the live-action films, or is it a standalone project with no connection to the other movies?
Transformers One Was Announced With No Connections To The Live-Action Movies
Deadline’s initial announcement of Transformers One said that the animated movie would be “separate and apart” from the live-action films. Transformers One’s portrayal of the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron won’t be beholden to what’s already been established in the live-action movies; it’ll take that dynamic in its own direction. Despite coming from the same studio as the other Transformers movies – and the writers’ room assembled to hold the franchise together – Transformers One seems to be its own thing.
How Transformers One Will Be Different From The Live-Action Canon
The live-action Transformers movies are set long after the fall of Cybertron when all the Transformers have relocated to Earth. The war between the Autobots and Decepticons has been underway for a while and Optimus and Megatron have been enemies for as long as they can remember. Transformers One will differentiate itself from those movies by going back to a time when Cybertron was still a prosperous planet and Optimus and Megatron were the best of friends. Unlike the live-action films, there won’t be a human storyline distracting from the rock-‘em-sock-‘em robot action.
The most noticeable difference in Transformers One will be the voices of the characters. The animated movie has assembled a star-studded voice cast to replace all the familiar voices from the live-action films. For the first time in Transformers history, Optimus Prime won’t be voiced by Peter Cullen; instead, Optimus is voiced by Chris Hemsworth. Brian Tyree Henry plays Megatron and Keegan-Michael Key plays Bumblebee, seemingly distancing Transformers One from the other entries in the franchise.
