The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts official trailer features Optimus Prime and the Autobots joining forces with the Maximals against a big threat, figuratively and literally, to humanity and possibly to the rest of the galaxy. Paramount Pictures dropped the official trailer to the upcoming seventh live-action Transformers film this morning and it teased one of the most dangerous villains in the history of the entire Transformers franchise — Unicron.
Who Is Unicron?
Before we dive into the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts trailer, here’s a brief rundown of who Unicron is and where he has been seen before.
Making his first appearance in 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie animated film, Unicron (voiced by Orson Welles), is a large sentient being that takes the form of a very large planet and traverses through space devouring planets and its inhabitants as its energy source. He has the ability to transform into his humanoid form just like other Transformers. In The Transformers: The Movie, he fears only only one thing — the Matrix of Leadership, an artifact of great power traditionally carried by Autobot leaders and is passed on as each one dies. It’s the one and only thing that can destroy Unicron. In the 1986 animated film, Optimus Prime carries the Matrix in his chest. Perhaps, the Matrix of Leadership will also be featured in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
After a near death battle with Optimus Prime, a dying Megatron floating in space meets Unicron. Megatron makes a deal with Unicron and is transformed into a much more powerful Decepticon — Galvatron. With a new body and troops, Galvatron must seek and destroy the Matrix of Leadership or die in the hands of Unicron.
Transformers: The Last Knight teased the coming of Unicron, but wasn’t represented the same way as it was in the animated film. Unicron was also featured in Transformers: War for Cybertron: Kingdom animated series on Netflix.
Transformers: Rise of the Beast Unicron
The Transformers: Rise of the Beast official trailer teased the new threat to our heroes who must trust each other and stop it from destroying the place they call home. The trailer featured epic battle scenes, quick glimpses of Unicron and the Terracons (the other antagonists of the film). For avid Transformers fans, they might have caught the scene where Mirage gives Noah (Anthony Ramos) some sort of nano-tech armor. This can be a homage to Spike and Daniel’s exo-suit from The Transformers: The Movie.
Unicron’s planet form looks very accurate to the way it looked in The Transformers: The Movie. Designs that look closer to their animated counter-parts has been well-received by Transformers fans. In 2018’s Bumblebee film, it opens to an ongoing war on Cybertron. The film featured many of the Generation 1 robots keeping their original designs and color scheme. Asides from Optimus Prime, Soundwave and Shockwave sounded just like they did in the cartoons. You got director Travis Knight to thank for that.
The New War In Transformers: Rise of the Beast
First announced back in June 2020, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes inspiration from the Beast Wars: Transformers franchise. The CG-animated animated series ran from 1996 to 1999 and its sequel series known as Beast Machines: Transformers from 1999 to 2000. Though, it’s still unknown how much of the new film is connected to 2018’s Bumblebee starring Hailee Steinfeld, it has been reported that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will serve as a soft reboot to the live-action Transformers franchise.
The film stars Anthony Ramos as Noah Diaz. He who looks like he’ll be developing a connection with Autobot Mirage (Pete Davidson). Joining Ramos are Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Vélez, and Tobe Nwigwe.
As for the voices of the Transformers, the film has an all-star cast that will see Peter Cullen returning to provide the iconic voice of Optimus Prime. Ron Perlman will voice Maximal leader, Optimus Primal. Other voice talent include Peter Dinklage as Scourge, Michelle Yeoh as Airazor, Cristo Fernández as Wheeljack, Liza Koshy as Arcee, David Sobolov as Rhinox, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Nightbird, and Tongayi Chirisa as Cheetor.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is directed by Creed II’s Steven Caple, Jr. and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, and Duncan Henderson and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Brian Goldner, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An.
Paramount also announced that Chris Hemsworth (Thor) will voice a younger Optimus Prime and Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Marvel’s Eternals) will voice a younger Megatron for the upcoming animated movie, Transformers: One.
The film lands in theaters this summer, June 9, 2023. You can watch the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts official trailer below.
