It was back in 2007 when Michael Bay launched the live-action Transformers franchise, based on the iconic kids toys from the 1980s. With a product that spawned various lines of toys that sold by the millions, and had television shows and an animated movie to its name, The Transformers: The Movie in 1986, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood turned it into a hugely profitable film franchise, having now made over $3.7 billion across its four recent movies.
Bay will supposedly conclude his run on the franchise at last ten years later, with the release of Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth instalment in the series. Starring Mark Wahlberg (reprising his Transformers: Age of Extinction role as Cade Yeager), The Last Knight cast also includes Josh Duhamel (playing Lt. Colonel William Lennox in a Transformers movie for the fourth time), as well as franchise newcomers Jerrod Carmichael and Isabela Moner.
The official Transformers Twitter account left nothing to speculate over when announcing the latest big name to join the Last Knight cast: Anthony Hopkins. In an attempt to tease fans, they simply tweeted the caption, ‘The man, the myth, the legend – help us welcome Sir Anthony Hopkins to the #transformers universe.” The news was accompanied by a photo of the acclaimed actor (see below), whose role wasn’t detailed.
The man, the myth, the legend – help us welcome Sir Anthony Hopkins to the #transformers universe. pic.twitter.com/PfkTuWZHD9— #TRANSFORMERS (@transformers) June 3, 2016
This isn’t, of course, Hopkins’s first dance with a popular franchise. Back in the day, the Welsh actor appeared as Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, reprising the character for 2001’s Hannibal, and the following year in Red Dragon. Not to mention, his more recent appearances in Marvel Studios’ Thor films, playing Norse God Odin – with Thor: Ragnarok to be his third alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, when it arrives in 2017.
Meanwhile, the Transformers Twitter account also posted the message seen below: “Cybertron’s newest knight already has an armor of gold… #transformers.” This could imply that Hopkins’ character, assuming the comment was pre-emptively about him, will provide the voice for Goldbug – an evil, alternate reality version of Bumblebee – or possibly another Autobot such as Ultra Magnus (assuming he’s not simply playing a human in the film, that is).
Cybertron’s newest knight already has an armor of gold… #transformers— #TRANSFORMERS (@transformers) June 2, 2016
Nothing has been officially revealed either way about Hopkins’ role in Transformers: The Last Knight, but some fans seems convinced that he will be the voice of Goldbug, alongside franchise regular Peter Cullen (who voices leader Optimus Prime). Clearly we’ll be hearing a lot more on the particulars of his role as the year goes on, what with production on The Last Knight getting underway in Cuba this month.
Next: Transformers 5 Video Teases Megatron’s New Form
Transformers: The Last Knight opens in U.S. theaters on June 23, 2017, followed by the Bumblebee spinoff on June 8, 2018, and Transformers 6 on June 28, 2019.
