Keegan-Michael Key Teases His Take on Bumblebee in The Upcoming TRANSFORMERS ONE Animated Movie

Paramount Pictures is developing a big-budget animated Transformers film titled Transformers One, and it brings together an all-star cast that includes Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.

Keegan-Michael Key recently did an interview, which teased his take on the voice of Bumblebee in the film, saying that he’s bringing a lot of himself to it. He told Collider:

“For playing Bumblebee, it’s funny, [there’s] not a lot of affectation to my voice. The director of this, he goes, ‘I really want your voice. I just want Keegan’s voice.’ So it’s kind of Keegan as Bumblebee. You’ll see. It’s interesting. Unlike [Migration], where I’m working in a dialect or I’m doing something like Super Mario Bros. where I’m really trying to disguise my voice, this one I’m bringing a lot of me to it.”

Hemsworth previously talked about his approach to playing Optimus Prime, saying:

“The Optimus Prime that you hear on the screen in the films is an older, mature . . . you know, he’s been around for many, many, many, many years. This is the sort of origin story, so it’s the younger version of him. So there are sort of hints and colorings that hopefully resonate enough with the Optimus Prime we know, but it is a youthful version of him, and different. But he won’t be Australian.”

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura also previously talked about his excitement for Hemsworth playing Prime, and praised his voice, saying:

“Also, it’s the imagination of our artists and our director, and one of the great things is, as you actually put the voices to the characters. When we first listen to Chris Hemsworth’s voice, you’re like, ‘God, is he gonna be a good Optimus!’ Obviously, he starts as Orion Pax and you don’t become Optimus for a while, so he’s not playing, for most of the movie, what we think of as Optimus, Peter Cullen. So it’s that transition, and Chris’s voice has a timbre that… it’s logical that Peter Cullen would take over that voice, if you would, which is really great, the fans are gonna really feel great.”

Transformers One is a prequel film that revolves around the origins of Cybertron, and the story will center on a young Optimus Prime and Megatron who are finding their path. It was previously revealed:

"This is … the origin story of young Megatron and young Optimus. If you know the origin, they started as friends, and over time things devolved for them and they ended up on two sides. So we're telling the young Optimus and the young Megatron story. We really are telling the origin story of all Transformers, both what they were at the beginning of it, to how they grow, to how they grow apart."

This will be the first of what Di Bonaventura calls a "natural trilogy,” and it’s going to explore “Cybertron in a way you've never seen it, that no one's ever seen it before.”

There’s a lot to be excited about with this movie! This is a story I’m excited about seeing brought to life! The film is being directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) from a script he wrote with Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari.

Transformers One is scheduled to hit theaters on September 13, 2024. I’m excited about this movie and I have high hopes for it.