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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ first teaser trailer introduces the Maximals Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and Airazor, and they all look absolutely stunning.
After years of Paramount’s live-action Transformers movies feeling like they were coasting on their good looks, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ first teaser trailer is here to remind everyone that Beast Wars has always been the superior chunk of the larger Transformers franchise.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, from director Steven Caple Jr., revolves around ex-military gearhead Noah (Anthony Ramos) and museum researcher Elena (Dominique Fishback), two humans who accidentally become embroiled in yet another conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
As tends to be the case with recent Transformers stories, neither Noah nor Elena know about the Cybertronians like Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) hiding in secret on Earth disguised as various kinds of ordinary human vehicles. But unlike previous Transformers films, Rise of the Beasts is set to introduce a number of Beast Wars’ Maximals and Predacons — Transformers whose alternate forms are based on organic animals. Though Paramount’s recent Transformers movies have touched on the idea of Cybertronians turning into organic beings, Optimus seems downright shocked to meet Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) in his gorilla form.
The trailer makes it hard to tell whether Rise of the Beasts will dig into Beast Wars’ story of how the Maximals and Predacons — who are actually from the distant future — accidentally ended up in the prehistoric past due to an incident involving time travel. But it does make it stunningly clear that classic characters like Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), Cheetor, and Rhinox are going to be in the mix as Prime and his allies try to save the planet from destruction once again.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts also stars Tobe Nwigwe, Peter Dinklage, Liza Koshy, John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Pete Davidson, and Cristo Fernández. The movie hits theaters June 9th, 2023.