The Big Picture

• Keegan-Michael Key will voice Bumblebee in Transformers One, using his natural voice without much affectation.
• Transformers One will serve as an origin story for all the Transformers and will explore the ideological differences between the Autobots and Decepticons.
• The cast of Transformers One includes big-name talent, such as Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Jon Hamm, with more casting announcements to come.

Keegan-Michael Key has had an impressive past few years as a voice actor. Following a 2022 run that included Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and a reunion with Jordan Peele in Wendell & Wild, he spent this year visiting the Mushroom Kingdom as Toad in Illumination's money-printing blockbuster The Super Mario Bros. Movie and he's now back with the Chris Meledandri studio for Migration. Although it won't be released until late 2024, Peele also booked his next, and arguably most exciting, high-profile animated role yet this year - as Bumblebee in Transformers One.

During an interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub for Migration, Key teased what to expect from his take on the iconic yellow Autobot in the starry prequel story opposite Chris Hemsworth's Optimus Prime and Brian Tyree Henry's Megatron. Unlike the Autobot leader, who is ditching the Australian accent for the role, Key will stay closer to his normal voice for the film. "For playing Bumblebee, it's funny, [there’s] not a lot of affectation to my voice," he revealed. "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."

Key adds that Bumblebee is a significant departure from his process for previous animated projects. In Mario, for instance, he took a big swing by going for a higher tone as if he had just inhaled helium. He added that his Transformers One performance will be more natural than both Toad and what audiences hear from Delroy in Migration. "Unlike this, 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."

What's In Store for Bumblebee in 'Transformers One'?

Transformers One takes the franchise back to Cybertron at a time when Optimus Prime and Megatron were still close friends and societal strife was beginning to rock the planet. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Weintraub in a previous interview that the animated feature won't just be an origin for the two eventual enemies, but an origin for all the Transformers viewers eventually see on-screen. Across what the franchise producer called a "natural trilogy," the storyline will revolve around the fall of Cybertron and the ideological differences that eventually tore the Autobots and Decepticons apart. How Key's Bumblebee plays into the story exactly is unknown, but he's sure to have a major part as everything begins to crumble.

There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Transformers One from the animation, which is being handled by Industrial Light and Magic, to Hemsworth's Optimus Prime, and, of course, Key's Bumblebee. The cast is full of big-name talent though, with Scarlett Johansson co-starring as Elita alongside Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion and Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime. Tyree is currently the only name confirmed for the evil side, though his take on Megatron is one to watch for as the actor comes off his first Academy Award nomination for Causeway. More cast will be announced as the release date draws closer.

Transformers One comes to theaters on September 13, 2024. Check out our guide here for everything we know so far about the animated film. In the meantime, you can also watch the trailer for Key's latest venture Migration, which releases on December 22, below.

Find Tickets Now