Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has cast Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson in voice roles. In an Instagram post, director Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II) dropped behind-the-scenes videos of the actors performing their lines for the upcoming franchise film, based on Hasbro’s Transformers action figures. Yeoh will lend voice to Airazor, the Maximal who can shapeshift into the beast form, a pelican. Davidson, on the other hand, plays Mirage, the crimson-themed Autobot, who mysteriously died in 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Mirage aka Dino was originally played by Francesco Quinn (Platoon), who passed away from a heart attack, a week into the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Comedian/ actor Davidson (The Suicide Squad) now assumes the role, though it is unclear if he will mimic the Italian accent. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is also billed as a sequel to 2018’s soft reboot film Bumblebee, so perhaps Paramount Pictures is shaking up the timeline and events with this entry. Yeoh, last seen in Everything Everywhere All at Once, plays one of the Maximal members, who are descendants of the Autobots (the good guys).
Yeoh and Davidson join a cast that includes Anthony Ramos (In the Heights), Dominique Fishback (Project Power), and Lauren Vélez (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a 1990s globe-trotting adventure, that will introduce the Beast/ fauna race, Maximals and Terrorcons, to the existing battle on earth between the Autobots and Decepticons. Michael Bay, who directed the first five films in the series, returns as producer. The seventh Transformers film will reportedly be set in Brooklyn, New York, before heading into other locations, including Peru.
The Hailee Steinfeld-led (Hawkeye) Bumblebee was meant as a spin-off/ reboot to the franchise. Directed by Travis Knight, the Transformers film grossed $468 million (about Rs. 3,850 crore) globally, against a production budget of $135 million (about Rs. 1,110 crore). Dylan O’Brien voiced the titular Autobot in the movie, though currently, there’s no word on his return.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is slated to hit theatres on June 9, 2023.